Dragon Script
by Kopy.Kunoichi
Summary: Gajeel and Levy discover secrets hidden a thousand years while on a mission together. Even more significant is what they discover about each other. Read and Review please! Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters.
1. Changes

Dragon Script

Chapter 1: Changes

Levy sat at the table in the quietest corner of Fairy Tail's indoor commons. She adjusted her reading glasses, focusing on the ancient runes written before her. Frowning, she glanced at the sheet of paper beside her, which held equally ancient scripts that helped her translate the glyphs in the book she held. She didn't like looking at that paper – it was like a cheat sheet. She wanted to be able to read her book smoothly and quickly without consulting any other material. The more fluent she was in ancient texts, the more complicated spells she could cast. Lately, she was beginning to feel more like a hindrance than an asset, particularly in combat situations. It was true that she was stronger than her two partners in Shadow Gear. Jet and Drory didn't necessarily have weak powers, they just didn't always execute them well.

Her own weaknesses had been brought into sharp perspective during the incident during the S-Class exam. When faced with two powerful mages from an enemy guild, she was utterly helpless. Luckily, Gajeel had been there to save her…again. She tore her eyes away from the pages of her book to steal a glance at the pierced Dragon Slayer, who was sitting quietly at the bar with his back to her, talking with Pantherlily. So much had happened since their first violent encounter that she almost couldn't believe that it was him who had hurt her. He had worked hard to atone for that day in his own way. He had let Jet and Drory beat him up, and when Laxus had carelessly attacked, he took the shot that was meant for her. He had shielded her in the church when Laxus again went on a rampage and nearly died protecting her during the S-Class exam. She stared at his still bandaged arm, a fresh wave of guilt washing over her. Useless. She had been useless! She grit her teeth, attacking her book with renewed vigor. Never again would she allow herself to be so dependant on someone else. After everything that had happened with Grimoire Heart and the dark mage Zeref, no one really protested when Master advanced Cana, and called an end to the S-Class exam. Levy still wanted to train though, not just to get a head start on next year's exam, but because their battle with the dark guilds was far from over, and she needed to get stronger. Gajeel had readily agreed to continue training with her. He had wanted to jump back into it right away – but she had insisted that he take the time he needed to heal. He had fought her on it, but she wouldn't give in.

Sounds of a scuffle broke into her thoughts as Gray and Natsu got into another one of their regular fights. She studiously ignored them, deciphering a complicated passage with ease. She grinned at the page, pleased with herself for getting through it without looking at her help sheet.

"_I can do this." _She thought, her brain barely registering the sound of wood smashing into splinters. _"Now if I can just-"_

Her thoughts were interrupted by a blur of motion beside her followed by a thunderous crash. She jerked towards the sound. Most of her field of vision was blocked by a broad back, in front of which fell two pieces of an entire table. Stunned, she could only stare at Gajeel's thick mane of hair as he cussed Gray and Natsu up one side and down the other for their riotous behavior. He didn't even turn around to ask if she was okay. He didn't have to – because he had been watching out for her again. If he was there, there was no need to even think for herself, since he would _always _save her – even from her own guildmates! A vein in her forehead poked through the skin as her frustration grew. Why did he always have to be there? Why _him_? She abruptly stood up, slamming her hands on the table. Gajeel ceased his tirade to turn towards her, suddenly aware of the hostile aura behind him.

"You know something Redfox?" she ground out between clenched teeth. "I don't need you to save me every damn day!" she screamed.

Grabbing her book and sheet, she shouldered past him and stormed out of the room. Tears stung her eyes when she thought of the confused look on his face, but she was too angry with herself to turn back. She ran all the way home, slammed her door and threw herself on the bed. She sobbed into her pillow for a good hour before falling asleep in misery.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Gajeel stood frozen in the same position after Levy retreated from sight. The whole room was deathly quiet; even Natsu and Gray had turned surprised and sympathetic gazes on him. Too stunned to even be angry about her outburst, he uprooted himself and returned to the bar in silence. Beside him, Pantherlily's tail twitched at the tension in the air. Gradually, voices began to fill the room again as everyone took their queue and went back to their conversations. Natsu and Gray did not resume their fight, but sat down with Lucy and Wendy, quietly discussing what just happened.<p>

"What did I do wrong?" he asked Pantherlily.

"Judging from her reaction, I don't believe it is you whom she is frustrated with," the small feline replied.

"What do you mean?"

"She's feeling insecure about her own strength – maybe she thinks you don't respect her because she is always relying on you – whether by her choice or otherwise."

Gajeel thought about what he had said to her during the S-Class exam. He had told her that unless she was stronger, he wouldn't pay attention to her. He had meant it from the perspective of her challenging him, but perhaps she did not see it that way. Maybe his words had more effect on her than he thought.

"Maybe you're right…but she didn't have to scold me like a child," he grumbled.

The cat shrugged, "Like I said, I doubt she's truly mad at you; give her time to cool off, she will come around."

"Yeah, I guess," he muttered, taking another sip of his forgotten drink.

* * *

><p>Levy awoke slowly, the breeze from her open window chilling her damp cheeks. She lifted her head, staring blankly at her tear-stained pillow.<p>

"That's right," she said to herself, "I yelled at Gajeel for no reason and came here and cried myself to sleep. I'm such an idiot."

She didn't need to tell herself that it was mostly around him that she behaved so irrationally, she knew it was so. She had done the same thing on the S-Class exam. He had made her mad, and she ran off in a rage and then he had saved her. She only ever lost her temper with him. For some reason, he knew just how to make her boiling mad, even though he wasn't trying to. Still, she knew she needed to apologize before the night was out – she needed to clear the air and make sure things weren't awkward for training. She went to her wardrobe and changed into something warmer, as the night had grown quite chilly. She ran a brush through her hair and applied a little concealer to her now puffy eyes. She briefly wondered if he was still at the guild or if he had returned home; if the latter, she would have to wait until morning, because she did not know where exactly he lived. She supposed she could ask someone at the guild for his address, but that seemed kind of awkward. The second she opened the door, she realized she needn't have worried, for there stood Gajeel Redfox. He was standing with one hand raised, poised to knock, the other hand propped up on the doorframe in an imposing manner. She shrunk back a little from him, taking a couple steps back into the room. He recovered from his surprise more quickly than she did, stepping forward to follow her in and closing the door behind him. She might have been a little miffed at his forward behavior, had he not immediately leaned back against the door with a defeated sigh, hanging his head slightly. Confused, she bit back the remark about his rudeness and remained silent, unsure of what to say to him. The quiet stretched out between them for a long moment before he raised his head to look at her, taking in her expression.

"I wish I knew why you were mad at me," he said finally. His voice was gruff and deep as always, but held a note of hurt in it.

Levy felt like crying all over again, and bit her lip to keep it from quivering. "I'm so sorry Gajeel. I…I'm not mad at you at all. It's just...I was frustrated and I took it out on you. It was so wrong of me, and I'm really, really sorry."

She hesitantly moved toward him, not really sure how else to consol him. He pushed off the wall and stood up to his full height, standing so close that she had to crane her neck to look up at him.

"I understand," he said quietly. "I'm sorry too…for some things I said before…during the exam," he apologized awkwardly.

She gave him a puzzled look, "You didn't say anything wrong to me. I was just being stupid back then. Seems to be a habit with me."

"I should not have told you that I wouldn't pay attention to you unless you were strong. I meant that you wouldn't be a rival unless you were tough enough, but I guess that's not how it came out."

"I knew what you meant Gajeel. I was just – I don't know…" her voice trailed off and she rubbed her arm in embarrassment. "I didn't want you to see me as being weak - but even more than that, I didn't want you to stop paying attention to me because of it," she paused, suddenly aware of what she had just said.

He considered her thoughtfully, "Why do you care what I think of you? Especially after I…what I did before."

"That wasn't you," she insisted, with more force than she intended. "I mean, that was a long time ago, it doesn't matter anymore."

"It _does _matter! I wish every day that I could take back what I did to you," he said, anger seeping into his voice.

"But, you protect me all the time. You've saved me so many times - twice with Laxus; then during the exam from the monsters, and then Grimoire Heart. You are always there for me and I never do anything for you!" she cried, wanting him to understand her frustration with herself.

"You're my friend," he said after a pause, his voice softer than she had ever heard it before. "I'm accepted in this guild by almost everyone, but you and Pantherlily are the only ones I would really call friends."

Levy tried to contain her shock. She had never thought that Gajeel even really cared about things like that. He was so tough all the time, she forgot that even he would want someone to care for him. Maybe even someone to care for. Her cheeks tinted pink when she thought about what that might mean. She had found herself liking him more and more since the incident with Laxus. She knew there was far more to him than he let on, especially seeing him interact with Pantherlily after their return from Edo. If she was honest with herself, she also knew why it bothered her so much during the exams when he had been more focused on fighting monsters than her needs. It was because she _wanted _him to pay attention to her. She wanted him to like her as much as she liked him. The question really was, how much did she like him? And in what way?

"You will always have my friendship," she promised him. "I'm sorry that you haven't felt close to anyone else here though."

"I didn't expect anyone to accept me anyway," he said, shrugging. "I really don't need their friendship anyways," he paused. "But it's not the same with you – I owe you something."

"You've more than made up for it to me. But what about Jet and Drory, you don't seem to feel the same way about them," she said carefully, not wanting to upset him again.

His lips pulled off his teeth in a sneer, "If they had done their job in the first place, I could have never hurt you to begin with."

"That's not really fair, Gajeel. All three of use together couldn't have beaten you even if you hadn't surprised us, and you know it."

"Maybe, but I already let them have at me. I'm done making things up to them," his tone said the subject of Jet and Drory was closed.

"But not me?" she asked, putting them out of her mind and trying not to sound too hopeful.

He paused, measuring her with a long look, "It's different," he repeated. "You see me. You don't see a guy who used to belong to a dark guild - who defected and joined you and could turn again at any time. That's what they see. You see me," he said again. "And I see you," he added.

She nodded slowly, knowing that he was right. He did see her, more than she realized. She had thought during the exam that he really didn't care about her, but she knew now that that was not true. He cared about her, or he wouldn't be here. She smiled slowly, the realization warming her from the inside out.

"Do you want to 'see me' tomorrow morning for training, say around 10?" she asked, her smile adjusting into a playful smirk.

He grinned back at her, his fangs gleaming a little ominously, "You sure you're ready?"

"Are you sure _you're _ready? I'm not going to take it easy on you just because you still have a bandaged arm," she teased.

"Yes you will – but you won't need to," he argued. "Okay shrimp, are we good now?"

"We're good," she assured. "I'm sorry again about before."

"Eh, stop worrying about it," he said, patting her head the way he always liked to, mussing up her hair. "You just worry about being ready for the training I've got in store for you…I've had all week to plan it," he said, winking mischievously.

"I can't wait," she said, sounding more confident than she felt.

"Okay, 'night shortie," he said, turning and opening the door to let himself out.

"You know, I do have a name," she complained, standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her tiny frame, trying to look intimidating.

Gajeel stopped and turned around, leaning down until his mouth was next to her ear, "Goodnight _Levy_," he rumbled, her name rolling off his tongue in a gravelly wave. "Sweet dreams."

He stood up and walked away, leaving her standing in the doorway, a little shiver still clinging to her spin. She didn't know what, but something had just changed between them. Tomorrow was going to be interesting. She watched until his broad frame disappeared, and she was left alone to ponder her day. It had turned out all right after all – maybe even better than all right. She needed time to sort through her feelings before tomorrow, so she decided to lay her books aside for the night and make herself a nice mug of hot cocoa. It was time to ask herself the big question…how did she really feel about Gajeel? She didn't have to think about it very long, she knew how she felt about him. She had known the moment she was forced to leave him during the exam to fight alone because it was the hardest thing she had ever done. The more important question was, did he feel the same – and was she brave enough to find out? Only time would answer those questions.

**K.K: Okay peoples, you know the drill - gimme some feedback. I stretched Gajeel a little, I know. I'm trying to keep him in character while revealing a little more of personality. Lemme know what you think! :)**


	2. Tactics

Dragon Script

Chapter 2: Tactics

The next morning, Levy woke up early to the first rays of sunshine pouring in through her bedroom window. She stretched and yawned, basking in the warmth for a few minutes. Today was going to be a good day – she could feel it. She got up and made herself some breakfast, taking a little time to look over the rune script that she had been deciphering yesterday. There were still a few passages that she was having trouble with, but she didn't let it bother her. She would have time to look over them later – right now she had more important things to do. She chose an outfit from her wardrobe consisting of a yellow bikini top with a loose pink boat neck mid-drift shirt thrown over it and a pair of khaki shorts. She ran a brush through her hair and held it back with a yellow headband. Grabbing her satchel from the couch, she headed out into the sunshine, frowning a bit as the early morning humidity clung to her skin. Today was going to be sticky, and training hard out in the heat was probably not going to be that fun. But Levy was determined not to let anything ruin her morning, so she turned her steps toward the beach with renewed determination. She and Gajeel had already decided where they were going to train last week. There was a place on the west side of the coastal beach where some woods reached down near the water. The sand there was rougher and a little more hard-packed than in the middle of the beach, but the footing could still be tricky. There was enough room for them to spar openly, but the trees also added some shade if they needed it, as well as alternate terrain should they decide to move their training into the dense woods. Furthermore, the area was secluded and no one would interrupt their work there or stumble into a potentially dangerous area on accident.

Even though she had left early, it took a while to get down to that spot on the beach; by the time Levy actually reached the place, Gajeel was already there. She found him stretched out on a rock, his arms behind his head and his eyes closed. She walked up to the rock, expecting him to sit up when he heard her approaching. His eyes remained shut however, his chest steadily rising and falling. Was he asleep? Her eyes lingered on his face for moment, roaming over his chiseled features and piercings. She had never really stopped to look at them, having just accepted them as part of his features. Although she winced when she thought about how much they must have hurt, she thought that they suited him well. After all, he was always growing metal things from his body to use as weapons – why not have metal piercings as well? A thought suddenly struck her. Were they actually piercings, or were they just little bits of metal that he grew out of his skin just like the rest of the metal he fought with? Struck by the idea, she leaned down to inspect the metal protruding from his chin closer. It did appear to be simply _growing _out of the skin. She lifted her head to scan the studs in his nose, which also appeared the same. She was shifting her attention to his eyebrow ridge when his eyes suddenly snapped open, locking onto her with their crimson gaze. She squeaked and jumped back, embarrassment burning its mark into her cheeks and ears. Gajeel pulled himself into a sitting position, a toothy grin stretched across his face.

"Checking me over for fleas?" he teased.

"What? No! I was…I was…um," she paused to collect her thoughts. Better to just tell him the truth, she decided. "I was trying to figure out if the metal on your face and arms are piercings or just metal protrusions like your weapons."

Gajeel cocked his head to one side, considering her words. "Really? Did you figure it out?"

"Um, well – they _look _like they are just growing out of your skin," she said hesitantly.

"Well, you're right," he said.

Levy gasped when all of the metal on his face suddenly disappeared into the skin. All she could do was stare at him openmouthed as he calmly regarded her. She walked over to him, and giving in to a sudden bold impulse, she reached up and touched the smooth skin beneath his lip. Not even the slightest dimple in the skin betrayed that there had been a piece of metal there a moment before. He stayed still as she gently stroked the skin, his breath warming her skin through his slightly parted lips.

"I didn't know," she said finally, lowering her hand.

He shrugged, "No one has ever asked."

Levy stared up at him for a moment, the last traces of her prior embarrassment slowly ebbing away. Touch had been a part of their relationship for a while now, she realized. During Laxus' game, when Gajeel had been injured, it was her shoulder he had leaned on. It was the least she could do after he had spared her getting hit by lightning _twice_. During the S-class exam, he had physically helped her over some of the terrain obstacles that had been in her way, such as pulling her up over a cliff side. She had carried him back to camp after he saved her from Grimoire Heart's cronies – though where she had found the strength to do that, she still did not know. Desperation could dip into stores of energy she never knew she had, she supposed. This more intimate touch was different, although it seemed to be a logical progression from where they had been. She realized that she was strangely comfortable with touching his face, even with him looking at her so intently. Some invisible force was pulling her to him, and it seemed to erase all fear and discomfort from her mind. It was very unlike her, and yet, there was something about him that always drew out a more audacious side to her. It was as if his very presence dared her to push herself outside of her comfort zone and revel in the freedom.

"So are you ready to begin…Levy?" he added after a pause.

The sound of her name snapped her out of her reverie, but she was already moving into a wider stance – ready for anything; "Absolutely!" she replied enthusiastically.

"Good," he said, metal once again returning to his visage. "We're going to start with some defense. You are going to have to write up some good barriers to be able to counter my attacks. And I ain't gonna let up until I'm satisfied you can really hold me back."

He gave her a hard look and she gulped an "Okay."

He continued, "Then we're going to switch roles and I'm going to go on the defensive and you'll attack me. Be creative. After that, I want you to try some hand to hand combat with me."

"Excuse me?" she asked, not quite sure she'd heard that last part correctly. "You want me to fight you…with my hands?"

"Yeah."

"Are you nuts? My only advantage in a fight with you is distance – and I'm not even sure I could win that. If I get in close to you with no magic, I'm a dead duck."

"Listen tiny, you're eventually gonna get in a situation where you're gonna be up close and personal with someone stronger than you. You need to know what to do, at least the basics. You're never going to be able to kick my ass without a little magic, but you still need to know what to do if I get my hands on you."

"Fine," she replied shortly.

But something about the way he worded that made Levy's little bookworm brain take a turn towards something completely unrelated to what he was talking about. She wiped some sweat off her forehead with her arm to hide her blush - it was really hot out here. _"And getting hotter," _she thought as Gajeel removed his studded shirt and shoulder gear. Good grief, how was she going to get through this with _that _in front of her all day? He was so ridiculously muscular; it wasn't even funny. His back was absolutely rippling with corded muscle and his arms where thicker than her thighs. She tried not to look at his chest and stomach - it was just too much. She shifted her focus to his face, praying he would attribute her flushed cheeks to the growing humidity.

"Let's start slow, then we'll pick up the pace," he suggested, backing away from her a few yards.

"Sounds good," she said, flexing her fingers nervously.

Gajeel as an opponent was terrifying. He was never all that good at holding back, even though he had given her plenty of space and therefore plenty of time to write her spells. The first attack was very basic. He extended an iron rod arm at her, aiming just to the right of center. She dodged and scribbled a quick spell for SHIELD. The object appeared before her in the form of a round, studded metal shield, which she slipped on her left arm. It was heavy and would slow her down some, but it might deflect some of his blows, or at least soften them. He drew back and attacked with his left hand, aiming directly for the shield. She brought it to bear in front of her, still dodging the attack. The metal pole angled after her and suddenly a point appeared at its tip. Levy tried to dodge again, but the shield slowed her down too much. The tip of the pole pierced through her shield, shredding back the metal with a sickening screech. Once it was through, the pole ceased to extend, but she was hooked now and she knew it. She released the shield just as Gajeel yanked back, jerking it the rest of the way off her arm. Her defense failed, she jumped back to a safer distance and waited for his next onslaught. She didn't have to wait long, for he was already barreling towards her. He stopped about ten feet from her, changing one of his legs instead and aimed an extended sweeping kick at her knees. She sprang from her position, jumping over his attack and rolled to the right, staying low and readying for another jump. He rounded on her and shot a series of short bursts of metal rods at her. She continued to jump and roll out of the way, scrambling to think up a defense she could use against him. What was his weakness? Natsu was the only person she knew who had ever beaten him in battle, and even that was just barely. Impulsively, she wrote FIRE and ducked behind the word as it burst into flames. Getting another idea, she scrawled WATER and doused her flames, sending a wall of steam billowing into the air. Using it as a screen, she leapt into the cover of the trees, ducking down under the dense foliage. She made an effort to calm her breathing and clear her mind. She needed to find a new way to defend against his attacks. She didn't have anything strong enough to withstand a direct attack, but she needed to rely on more than just her ability to dodge him. She would wear herself out far more quickly than he would if she kept running from him like this. She peering carefully out of the bushes as the breeze off the water slowly cleared the vapor cover. He was still standing in the same place he had attacked her from, his face tipped back toward the sky, eyes closed. She realized after a moment that he was sniffing, searching out her scent instead of actively looking for her. He turned his head in her direction abruptly, startling her…her time was up. She decided to retreat deeper into the forest. If she couldn't write spells fast enough to combat him in the open, then she could use the terrain to slow him down and buy her some more time. She new there was a small creek that emptied into the ocean a little way back into the woods. Beyond that, the undergrowth was thicker – she might be able to use that to her advantage. She sprinted toward the water as fast as she could, knowing that Gajeel was a lot faster than he looked and would close the distance soon. The creek came up before her and pushed herself into a long jump to cross it. A flicker of movement to her right was her only warning before her stomach slammed into an iron rod. She almost flipped over it altogether, but managed to catch herself before she turned over all the way. Instead, she teetered on the top of the bar, her legs suspended off the ground. Gajeel retracted his iron arm with her still on it until it morphed back into flesh, bending his elbow and trapping her against him.

He pressed his nose into her hair, inhaling deeply, "Strawberry Cream? Makes you real easy to track. But moving into dense bush to slow me down was a good idea. Might've worked if not for the clearing around the creek."

"It was worth a try," she said, sighing.

"Let's see how if it works for you when _you're _the one attacking," he said, letting her drop down in front of him.

She nodded, brushing herself off a bit, "Okay, let's go."

"Ready when you are shrimp," he said, grinning.

She scowled at him, then suddenly jumped to the side and cast a solid script for FIREWORKS. The air around Gajeel erupted into a shower of sparks and loud booms. She used his momentary distraction to put some distance in between them. She had no idea what she could use as an effective offense against him – he had such a thick hide. Then again, she wasn't trying to actually hurt him, just combat him on even ground. She was going to need to be tougher though. He had a wicked sense of smell and hearing, but she might be able to get an edge if she could reduce his tracking senses down to one or two. She recalled from their fight with Yomazu, that a loud noise would deafen him easily, thanks to his super hearing. He had already recovered from her fireworks and was advancing on her again, crashing through the underbrush as easily as if he were strolling down a cobblestone path. She rounded on him and summoned the script for FOGHORN. The item appeared before her and she activated it, blasting the area around them with the overwhelming report. Gajeel stopped in his tracks, immediately covering his ears with his hands. She used that moment to sign INK into the air, whipping the word at his face. It worked like a charm, his face was covered in the black liquid and he was blinded and deaf. With those two senses down, and him too busy focusing on regaining them to stop to sniff her out, she attacked once more. She brought a rain of ice down on him similar to Gray's Ice Make, forcing him to throw up his scales. His hide was nearly impenetrable now, and she needed to find a new technique. Levy knew that her success against him depended entirely on him not knowing where she was. He was beginning to clear the ink off of him, so she threw another wave at him and kept up the constant blare of the horn, even though her own head was starting to ring. She surrounded him with a circle of heat fire, burning hot and blue, keeping him contained. If she couldn't pierce his skin – not that really wanted to – maybe she could contain him. She cast a script for a solid wall inside the ring of fire, being careful to avoid crafting it of iron. Once that was in place, she stopped the noise, took out her pen and began writing a rune wall, knowing the solid wall was coming down soon. She had almost finished it when the barrier containing Gajeel splintered into pieces. He threw himself at the script walls, finally able to see again. He put several dragon attacks into them, but the spell held, much to her satisfaction. Unfortunately, she had made a slight miscalculation. She had made the walls and the ceiling, but he was quick to figure out where she had not laid runes…the ground. He punched a clawed fist into the ground, turning it into cracked rubble. She couldn't finish the runes before he tunneled out, but she could be ready for him when he emerged. Sure enough, as soon as his head popped up above ground, she hit him with another round of ink.

"Damn it! Enough with the ink already!" he shouted, scrubbing furiously at his eyes.

"Do you give up?" she called back, trying to hide the exhaustion in her voice.

They really hadn't been training for that long, but she was tired out already. He had run her ragged in less than half an hour and he still looked fresh, if not a little perturbed.

"Not quite," he said, zeroing in on the sound of her voice and charging.

Levy ducked behind a large spruce tree and prepared to launch another foghorn script, but when she rounded the edge of the tree to throw it, she was face to face with an extremely pissed off dragon slayer. She ducked under his outstretched hand and rolled to the side, scrambling to her feet as quickly as she could. He was faster. He extended an iron leg in her direction, completely clothes-lining her. She flipped over his leg and landed in a heap on the ground. As he came down on her, she threw up a stone barrier – mistake. He smashed through the barrier easily, but the heavy rubble fell in on her. One large piece knocked the wind right out of her and she rolled to her side, coughing hard while frantically trying to take a full breath. Strong arms, clothed in soft skin instead of scales reached under her body, pulling her into a sitting position. She finally caught her breath, though her throat hurt from the hacking cough. Gajeel kneeled behind her, patting her back gently and rubbing it in circles.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. That was stupid of me," she said, her voice starting to return to normal.

"No, my fault. I wasn't thinking either. C'mon, let's take a break – then we'll work on your hand to hand," he suggested, lifting her to her feet.

"Oh goody," she said, throwing all the sarcasm she could muster into the words.

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you. We have all the time in the world to practice this stuff, it's not like we have to do it all in one day."

"Yeah, that's true."

"You did good on your first day though. I'm impressed with that rune barrier you threw up so quick. Next time though – make a floor," he said, winking.

She couldn't help a smile from spreading onto her face, in spite of his teasing. She soaked up his praise greedily, enjoying the sound of the words on his lips. He walked beside her, tall and powerful as ever; but he showed evidence of a tough sparing session. He was covered in sweat, dirt, and ink – and his shoulder looked like it had a new bruise on it. Levy thought about his still injured arm and a wave of guilt swept over her. She had been so focused on successfully "beating" him that she had forgotten that he was still wounded from the last time he had saved her. He acted as though he was fine, but she knew that he must still be in a lot of pain from internal injuries that had barely begun to heal. She mentally scolded herself for being so inconsiderate of him. He would never admit out loud that he was hurting; it was up to her to make sure he didn't overdo it.

"You know Gajeel, maybe we should skip the hand to hand for today," she said as they emerged from the tree line.

"Eh? You that tired already?" he asked, fixing a watchful gaze on her.

Maybe she could use it to her advantage if he thought she was hurt. She rubbed her ribs gingerly, "Well, I'm okay – but maybe we should take it easy so soon after the fight with Zeref. We _all _had a number done on us, and not everyone heals as fast as you do," she said, trying not to sound too wimpy.

"Yeah, maybe you're right," he said, running a hand through his hair.

"Besides, I don't know if I can take you seriously with all that ink on you," she said giggling.

"Yeah, you think you might had overdone that a little?" he complained, trying to wipe off the black smudges that hadn't been sweated off yet.

"Hey, it was working, wasn't it? Why change a technique that continues to get the results you want?"

"Be careful – if you use one attack too much, your opponent will get wise to you before long," he warned.

"Well, then I guess I'll keep using it until you smarten up," she teased.

"Oh, you're gonna get it for that," he growled, grabbing her around the waist and throwing her up over his shoulder.

Levy squealed at his sudden movement and tried to squirm out of his grasp – like that was going to happen. He stopped to kick off his boots; then started sprinting right for the shoreline, bouncing her up and down like a rag doll. She continued to struggle, but there was another part of her that enjoyed being pressed against his solid frame, locked tightly in his arms. She heard the splash of water and felt his pace slow as it swirled up to his thighs. She looked down and saw water sloshing close to her face, just before he shifted her in his arms –

"Gajeel…"she screamed just as he launched her body away from him.

She hit the water so hard, she felt like her body was skimming across the surface before sinking over her head. She emerged about three meters from where Gajeel still stood in waves; the latter was doubled over laughing at her.

"You jerk!" she yelled at him as she swam back, even though she wasn't really mad at him.

"Gi hi hi…you skipped! You actually _skipped_!" he cackled.

She splashed him good as soon as she reached him, but he didn't seem to mind. The water swelled to about his navel where he stood, but it was halfway up her chest. He kicked his feet up, turning over backwards into the water in a full summersault. When he came up, he had ink running down his face in streams.

Levy giggled, "C'mere, let me help you get that off."

He obediently approached her, bending his knees until the water was just under his chin. She sank down as well in front of him, scooping the refreshing liquid into her hands and pouring it over his face. She used the pads of her thumbs to rub away any stubborn streaks. Luckily, her ink was water-soluble, so it did not leave any stains on his skin. She wiped one last smudge off his nose and declared him fit-to-be-seen.

"What do I care what other people think of the way I look?" he asked, arching into a back float.

"I don't know, I think it's good to care a little – even though appearances aren't everything," she replied.

"Do you think I look okay?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Uh, yeah…I think you look nice," she said quietly.

"Then I'll just care what you think and forget everyone else…except Lily."

Levy hid her blush by sinking a little deeper into the water, even though he had his eyes closed. She decided to float next to him, letting the waves rock her for a little while in their cool embrace. They stayed like that for a while, just enjoying each other's company and the hot sun beating down on their tired bodies. A slightly larger wave propelled Levy closer to shore, gently bumping her into Gajeel's side.

"Sorry," she apologized.

"As you should be," he deadpanned, before sniffing a laugh. "C'mon squirt, let's get back to the guild before you get burnt to a crisp. You're cheeks are already pink."

"_And getting pinker," _she thought as she followed him back to shore. She took her shirt off and rung it out, not wanting to be dripping all the way back home. She could just walk back in her swimsuit top and shorts anyway. She snapped the material out and put it on the big rock next to Gajeel's shirt, grabbing her satchel. He came up behind her and grabbed both their shirts and slung them over his shoulder, holding his boots in his hand. They headed back to the guild, chatting back and forth about the sparing session. He offered her a few suggestions, but mostly gave her praise for what she had accomplished thus far. Their discussion turned to Lily, and how he and Gajeel were getting along as partners. Before they knew it, they had reached the doors of the guild. Gajeel had just described the way Pantherlily snored in vivid detail, earning him a stream of giggles from her. As they walked through the doors, the room got noticeably quieter. Levy looked around, noticing the curious glances they had attracted. She suddenly realized how it must look to them – her and Gajeel walking into the guild, still soaking wet and laughing together – and him with his shirt off no less. But she understood that the glances they received was only the beginning when her eyes landed on Jet and Drory, sitting at the table the three of them normally shared. Their expressions went from surprised to angry as they regarded her and big dragon slayer walking in. This was not going to be pretty…

**K.K.: Things are heating up everyone. I promise the plot will begin unfolding in the next chapter. For now, I wanted to build up a little more sexual tension. ;) ****Reviews as always - keep em coming!**


	3. Resolve

**K.K.: I decided to switch things up a little, so this one is from Gajeel's point of view**. 

Dragon Script

Chapter 3: Resolve

Gajeel noticed the looks on Jet and Drory's faces as soon as he and Levy entered the guild. There was a part of him that _really _wanted to rub it in that he was with their precious little bookworm and they were not. But that was petty, and though he was a great many things, petty was not one of them. He didn't really need to rub it in anyway; the two ignored males were already starting towards them with clear intent. He wasn't going to just stand idly by however, if their intention was to lay into him or Levy right here. Levy noticed his hackles raised and shot him a pleading look, which stopped the snarl forming on his lips. Sighing, he decided that this was not his fight. He didn't want to abandon Levy, but if he stayed here and listened to this, he was going to do something they would both regret.

"I'm going to get a drink, do you want anything?" he asked in a low voice.

She smiled at him, realizing immediately what he was doing, "Um, sure…lemonade?"

He nodded and headed towards the bar, studiously ignoring the other two mages as he passed them. Once he was behind them, his face fell into a deep scowl. Mirajane had taken in the whole thing with a trained eye, and was now watching him closely as he sat down at the bar, throwing his and Levy's shirts on the stool next to him.

"Can I get you anything Gajeel?" she asked in her sweet voice, keeping half an eye on the confrontation going on behind him.

"I'll have an ale. Levy would like a lemonade," he paused for a moment. "Could you maybe put strawberries in it or something? She's gonna need a treat after this, I think."

Mirajane turned her full attention on him now, raising her eyebrows a little at his thoughtful gesture, "Of course I can put strawberries in it."

He nodded his thanks and gratefully took a long swig from the drink she handed him, washing away the lingering taste of saltwater.

"They are her favorite you know," Mirajane said quietly, as she prepared Levy's beverage.

"Huh?"

"Strawberries. They are her favorite fruit."

"I figured since she smells like them," he replied, not caring if that sounded far too intimate.

Mirajane smiled at him and gave him a knowing look, as if he had just answered an unspoken question, "How is the training going?"

"Good. Her instincts are improving – she almost had me trapped today. She'll be smarter tomorrow, so I'll have to fight smarter too."

"Don't fight too hard," Mirajane warned. "She's not strong like you Dragon Slayers.

"I will never hurt her again," Gajeel said, his voice deadly serious. "And I'll make sure that no one else does either. But I need to make sure that she's not helpless without me – because I know I can't be there every time she's in danger."

The bartender's eyes turned soft again as she heard the resolve in his voice, "I believe you Gajeel. I hear wisdom in your words that I've never heard before; you've surprised me."

"Yeah well, don't go thinking I'm soft, 'cause I ain't," he growled.

She laughed, "I don't think you're soft at all. It doesn't make you soft to care about someone. And taking care of Levy really shows how you stepped up as a man. You're braver than most of the men here because you took the very person you hurt the most, and not only made things up to her – you became her friend."

He regarded her for moment over the rim of his glass as he drained it. Mirajane seemed sweet, but she could be scary as hell too when she wanted to be. But no one else in this guild saw things as clearly as she did. And though he knew from rumor that she was a hopeless romantic, he knew that she had good insight as well. Hopefully she wouldn't set her tongue to wagging about him and Levy – but for some reason, he didn't think she would.

"I'm proud of you," she added with a smile.

"Thanks," he muttered, glancing over his shoulder at Levy and the other two members of Shadow Gear; he hoped he had been right to leave her alone with them.

"Here," Mirajane said, placing Levy's lemonade on the counter. "Give this too her when it's all over."

Raised voices from behind them caught both their attentions. If Gajeel had wanted to, he could have listened to the whole thing, but he decided instead to focus on his conversation with Mirajane and ignore the squabble behind him. Anger boiled up inside of him when he saw the hurt look on Levy's face as she turned and ran back out of the guild, tears streaming down her face. He wanted to make the two of them suffer for making her cry – but that was the old him. If they cared about her enough to be jealous, then hurting her should cause them pain in itself. _"Not enough pain," _he thought to himself as he grabbed their clothes off the stool again.

"Can I take this outside the guild?" he asked, taking Levy's glass. "I'll bring it back."

"Of course," Mirajane replied in an anxious voice. "Just hurry up and go after her."

He nodded and slipped into his boots, turning to walk back out. He noticed Pantherlily sitting in a corner of the room with Wendy and Charle, playing some sort of board game with them. The little feline caught his eye and nodded, giving a small jerk of his head in the direction Levy had left in. Gajeel responded with a smirk – Lily was going to have some things to say to him when he got back later. His cat had a wonderful way of putting things into perspective for him, and he knew tonight would be no different. As soon as Gajeel's head hit the pillow for bed every night, Pantherlily curled his little frame up next to his hair (sometimes on his hair) and they would talk about their day. Then Lily would hum a little tune from Edolas, and they'd fall asleep to his deep, soothing notes. Gajeel never stopped to think how weird it would be if Pantherlily was his normal huge size and slept in the same bed with him. Somehow, being in the form of a tiny cat made it fine; Natsu and Wendy slept with their cats too.

He attention turned to tracking Levy's scent once outside of the guild. He caught the sweet smell of her hair and clothes immediately – it seemed even a dousing in saltwater couldn't completely wash it away. He followed it up the road and down a narrow alley, then a little ways to a small river that ran through the city aqueducts. At one point the water was divided lengthwise by a stone wall, redirected to a different section of the city via a more narrow waterway. There was a footbridge with no railings that crossed over this waterway, just a couple feet above the surface. Levy sat in the hot sunshine, dipping her feet in the little stream. She had her back to him and he could see her shoulders trembling slightly; she was still crying. Gajeel squared his shoulders and approached her quietly. He was no good at this kind of thing, but he refused to leave alone her again. Maybe the strawberry lemonade would aide his efforts to cheer her up. He took off his boots once more and set them down on the road next to the bridge. She still hadn't noticed him, despite the fact that they were in a quiet section of town. Feeling peculiarly intrepid, he approached her from behind and let his shadow fall over her. When she did not turn around to face him, he settled in behind her, his legs on either side of her body, dangling over the edge as well. She stifled a little gasp at his audacity, but he still heard it. He placed their shirts on the ground beside them, and kept her drink back a little, where she could not see it. He grabbed her little top from beside him and put it over her head. It was still damp from the water, but it would feel good in this hellish heat. She gratefully slipped her arms into it, protecting her fair skin from the sun.

"Thanks Gajeel," she said, her voice still hoarse from her crying.

"Here," he said, producing her drink in front of her.

"Oh," she started, and he could almost see the shape of her lips in his mind when she said it. "It has strawberries in it."

"Yeah, Mirajane said you liked them," he offered, not owning that it was his idea.

She took a sip of it, then a long drink, draining half the glass, "It's delicious."

The glass had no straw, so when she tipped her head back to drink it, her hair fell back against his shoulder. It too was still damp from the water, and felt good on his bare chest and arm. He repressed a shiver from going through his body, not because it was cold, but because she felt so damn good leaning up against him like this. He didn't have the luxury of just sitting here and soaking up her touch however, he needed to know what had happened with Jet and Drory.

"Tell me," he said, bringing his face down next to hers in an effort to maintain some of the contact with her.

She sucked in a shaky breath, "You didn't hear?"

"I was trying not to listen," he said.

"Oh. Well…first they asked me where I had been, even though they knew we were going to be training. I told them we had just been sparing – I didn't tell them where though."

"Good, 'cause it ain't their business," he growled. "Sorry…what else?"

"They said they didn't care if I didn't train with them all the time, but they more had a problem with _who _I was training with. I said that you were a good partner for me because you're style of attack was naturally harder for me to defend against; it makes me stretch myself and be creative. And then they asked me if I had forgotten what you had done to us…" her voice trailed off.

"Have you?" he asked, trying to hide the hope in his voice.

"I don't think I can ever truly forget," she admitted. "But I forgave you a long time ago. And I told them as much. They just said that they hadn't forgiven you and that I was stupid for accepting you into the guild so readily. They said since you betrayed your old guild, it would be that much easier for you to betray us."

"Do you believe that?" he pressed.

"Of course not. You changed when Master invited you here. He trusted you, and he would not do so lightly. It was because he saw something in you that maybe you didn't even see then. I saw it the day Jet and Drory attacked you and you didn't fight back, not even when Laxus showed up. You've been showing me every day since then," she said quietly. "Anyway, neither of them would admit that. To be honest, I'm not even sure if this is about not trusting you. I think they are just hurt and would say anything to get me to stop being with you."

He wished she really was "with" him, but he couldn't tell that to her yet, so he just said "Maybe" instead.

She continued slowly, obviously she was getting to the part that had made her cry in the first place, and threatened to do so again, "They got mad when I said I would not stop being your friend just because they didn't approve. I don't think they liked that word because they got really mad after that – especially Jet. He asked me how I could trade their friendship for the friendship of…" she stopped again.

"Of what?" he asked bitterly.

She shook her head, "It doesn't matter."

"Levy, it's okay," he said, his voice softer now. "You can tell me."

He felt her body tremble against his as the tears began to flow again, "Of a monster," she finished, almost sobbing.

He couldn't stop his arms from circling around her and drawing her back against his chest as sobs continued to rack her little frame. He wanted so badly to kiss her forehead and her tear-streaked cheeks, but he settled for this act of comfort instead. She gripped her lemonade in her hands so tightly, he was afraid she'd shatter the glass. When she had finally stopped bawling and gotten her cries reduced to the occasional tear, she finished her story.

"Jet said that if that was how things were going to be, then they didn't want to be a part of Shadow Gear any more. They would just be a two-man team from now on. They said to look them up when I stopped acting like a traitor," she sniffed. "I didn't know what to say, so I just ran away. I'm such a coward."

"You are not a coward, Levy. Talking to them at that point wouldn't have done any good anyway. They'll eventually grow up and get over it – it's not like the don't care about you."

"I know, that's the thing; I'm pretty sure that this is more about jealousy than anything else."

"Do either of them like you as…more than a friend?" he finished awkwardly.

"Well, they both have asked me out on dates," she said.

"So 'yes' then. Jealousy can make a man do some pretty stupid things."

"Not just men…everyone gets jealous."

"True. Listen, they'll get over it. And if they don't, they're not worth being friends with in the first place."

She sighed and rubbed the last traces of tears from her face, "You know what? You're right. I haven't done anything wrong. If they're gonna act like jerks, then that's their problem – not mine."

Gajeel chuckled at the fierceness in her little angel voice, "You got it, shorty."

"Hey," she protested, elbowing him in the ribs playfully. "What did I tell you about the nicknames?"

"Oh c'mon, I can't _ever_ call you small? I said your name a couple times today," he offered.

"Yeah I know, but you calling me small just makes me feel weak," she said, looking down.

"Hey," he said in a slightly husky voice. "Just because you're small when you stand next to me doesn't mean I think you're weak. You more than proved yourself today, and you're only gonna get better."

She turned to look at him for the first time since he sat down, her hazel eyes bright and her cheeks flushed from crying, "You really think so?"

She looked adorable. He resisted the urge to kiss her…again. Oh how he wanted to lie back and pull her with him and just cover her face and neck with nibbles. He licked his suddenly dry lips; this train of thought was going to get him into trouble though, so he just focused on her stunning eyes and beautiful hair.

"Yeah," he finally replied, realizing that he was so busy trying not to ravish her that he hadn't answered.

She turned back away from him, a little blush creeping up to her ears. She took a sip from her lemonade and made a little contented sound in her throat. Good grief, she was killing him…slowly. He silently vowed that one day he'd make her make that sound again. He needed to get out this position, quickly, before he really did something stupid.

"C'mon, let's get out of here," he said, slowly and carefully moving his legs out of the water and away from her.

"Okay, where do you want to go?" she asked.

"Well, I promised I'd bring that glass back to Mirajane," he said, nodding to her now empty drink.

"Oh," she said hesitantly.

"But, I can see why you wouldn't want to go back in there with me just yet," he quickly added.

"I don't want to go in there at all, it doesn't have anything to do with going with you. I'd probably feel better going back if I _was _with you – I'm just not sure I can go back yet."

"Hey, that's fine, don't push yourself. I'll take the glass back, then we can meet up later," he suggested.

"I need to get some groceries at the market, you could come with me if you liked. I know it's not that exciting, but –"

"That's perfect, I need to buy some food too," he interrupted, grinning.

She matched his smile, "Okay, see you in an hour by the watermelon stand with the purple tent?"

"I'll be there," he promised, picking up his now dry shirt and putting it on with his boots.

He grabbed her glass from her and handed her off the bridge, onto the road, "Seeya in a bit."

"Okay, bye," she said, waving as he walked away.

Gajeel took in a deep breath as he turned his steps back to the guild. She was beginning to consume him, and he found himself enjoying the feeling. Never before had anyone ever made him feel the way she did. Of course, he had found other women attractive over the years, but he had been far too focused on training and getting stronger to ever pursue any of them. It was different with Levy; she made him want to be stronger for her instead of for himself. He _needed _to protect her, to keep her safe from harm, to be close to her, to care for her, to lo- He couldn't quite bring himself to think it, but deep down he knew. Oh yes, he knew.

He entered the guild once more, and went straight to the bar to return the glass. Mirajane popped up from behind the counter and smiled at him, instantly reading his face like a book.

"Better?" she asked.

"Yeah, she's better," he confirmed, although the question seemed to inquire more after him than Levy.

"Good," the silver haired mage said. "Here, could you take this glass of milk to Lily? I think he needs a refill after losing to Wendy four times in a row," she chuckled.

"Eh? My cat is losing?" Gajeel said in mock horror, turning toward the group still in the corner.

Happy had joined them, undoubtedly to make another pass at Charle, only to get slapped down again. Gajeel almost felt bad for him. He briefly wondered if Pantherlily liked her as well. She seemed a little young for him though. Maybe her mother would strike his fancy if she ever showed up again. Playing matchmaker with his cat struck him as a tad bit odd though, so he put it out of his mind. He took the milk from the counter and walked over, offering it to Lily. His little partner accepted it mildly; then turned his attention back to the game. It had cards and a board and dice, probably more like a game of chance instead of skill.

"Oh, I hope you roll a seven this time Lily," Wendy cheered him on, seemingly experiencing winner's remorse.

Gajeel smiled and sat down next to her, giving her a playful tug on one of her ponytails, "What have we got here?"

"It's a game called "Domination" and you have cards and fake money and dice, and you try to build the most houses and hotels. Do you want to play?"

"Can't, I have to go to the market in a bit to get some groceries."

"Are you getting _fish_?" Happy asked, his eyes going big.

"Yeah," Gajeel answered flatly, unfazed by the little blue cat's obsession with seafood.

"Would you like me to come with you?" Pantherlily offered.

"You don't have to," Gajeel answered. "I'm just grabbing a few things."

"Ah," he said, nodding. "Then I shall stay here and attempt to dominate this little Dragon Slayer once again."

"Who are you calling 'little'?" Wendy asked in a teasing voice.

"I am, in fact, much larger than you," he defended.

"Yeah, he's just travel sized for my convenience," Gajeel added wryly.

Wendy giggled at his quip and rolled her dice again, apparently rolling something in her favor.

"Ugh, it looks like I might be here for a while," Lily sighed. "You go on and get those groceries. Maybe you should stop by the apartment and change your pants though – they have dirt stains on them."

Gajeel looked down to inspect his pants and noticed there was indeed a few smudges of dirt on them, "Oh, yeah – I guess I'll go do that now then. Seeya tonight?"

"Mhmm," the cat replied, distracted with the dilemma of where he should build his next property.

Gajeel got up from the table, said a short goodbye, and started heading for the door. Maybe he'd take a quick look at the mission board while he was here too.

"Say hi to Levy for me," Lily called after him.

Gajeel could hear the smirk in the cat's voice, damn him. He threw a snarl back at him, but the little panther cat never turned around to see it. Wendy did though, and even at her tender young age, seemed to understand exactly what was going on. He thought he even heard Happy make some kind of reference to him liking her and rolled his tongue weird. _"Freaking cats."_ He arrived at the message board and gave it a quick once over; a flyer near the bottom caught his attention.

WANTED:

A powerful mage(s)

to defend an archaeological dig.

Robbers have been stealing the

priceless artifacts.

Reward: 200,000J

At the bottom was the location of the site – about a day's train ride from Magnolia. An archaeological dig site would probably be crawling with ancient runes and all that stuff that Levy loved so much. She could help them decipher some of it if they needed help, and Pantherlily and he could guard the site while she did it. The reward wasn't that much, but the task didn't seem difficult at all. Between him and Lily, they could take care of these so-called "robbers" in a day. _"Piece of cake."_ He snatched the paper off the board and headed toward the doors. He noticed Jet start to get out of his chair out of the corner of his eye, but Drory held him back. _"At least one of them has some brains," _he thought.

He stopped by his and Lily's apartment quickly and changed into another pair of white pants, then headed for the market, flyer in hand. His timing was good; he ran into Levy just as she reached the purple watermelon tent. She flashed him a big grin as he walked up to her, making his pulse quicken just at the sight of her. She had changed as well into a little blue sundress that matched her hair, with yellow flowers on it. He greeted her and fell into step beside her as she perused the various fruit vendors.

"Do you like blueberries?" she asked.

"They're okay, I like strawberries better though," he said, wondering if she would catch his double meaning.

She smiled and agreed with him – apparently subtle wasn't going to work on her. Not that it mattered; he was not going to start wooing her with any mushy mumbo jumbo any time soon.

"I picked something up for you," he said, pulling the paper out of his belt.

"What's that?" she asked, shifting her bag onto her shoulder so she could hold the flyer.

"It's a job I saw. I thought you might like it," he offered.

Her eyes lit up when she saw the location, "I know where this is! I read something about it just the other day. They are excavating an old city that they believe is nearly three thousand years old. I saw a photo of some of the etchings on the walls – they seem to be a hybrid of ancient glyphs and runes, maybe a transition language long lost. Oh Gajeel, I would love to take this job!"

He smiled at her exuberance, "You know, if you want, Lily and I could run patrols and deal with the thieves if you wanted to focus on helping them dig and translate faster."

"You would do that for me?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"Uh, yeah," he said, the 'duh' evident in his voice. "I get to kick someone's ass and you get to do what you love – where's the dilemma?"

She smirked at his sarcasm, but her eyes were still dancing with excitement, "When do we leave?"

"I think the train heads that way around nine in the morning. Let's meet at the station at eighty thirty."

"Perfect, oh I can't wait!" she practically squealed.

She suddenly closed the short distance between them and wrapped her arms around his waist, squeezing him tightly. He chuckled and returned her hug, patting her head affectionately. She let go after a moment, smiling up at him. He could so easily lose himself in those big hazel eyes. She took his hand and dragged him a couple vendors down, making sure he bought some vegetables as well as fruits and meats. They spent about an hour together, her flitting from display to display, and him watching her every movement – memorizing every detail of her. Some of the vendors gave them odd glances, but most of them hid their smiles as they saw the couple. Gajeel noticed but didn't care enough to react; he had far more interesting things to occupy his eyes and nose and ears, and if he was lucky, his hands. His feelings for her were growing with each passing second he spent with her. He suspected that her thoughts might be reflecting his, but he would wait and watch and see. When he was satisfied that he held her regard, he would ask her to be his.

The shadows were beginning to grow a little longer when they finally finished at the market. He offered to walk her home, holding most of her bags as well as his. She set an easy pace, seeming to not want this time together to end, just as he did. They talked some more about this and that, and he liked how easy it was to talk to her. Sometimes she would talk about things that he didn't really know anything about, but he didn't mind. He liked listening to the sound of her voice and watching the way her mouth formed certain words. He liked the way she used her free hand to rub her arm whenever she caught him staring at her, a tiny blush creeping into her cheeks. He liked the way her sandals pitter-pattered down the stone streets with light steps; he loved how small her feet were. His arms were aching – not from the heaviness of the bags – but from a desire to hold her in them.

All too soon, they reached the dormitory where she lived. He carried her bags up to her rooms, taking in the familiar scent of leather bound books and the slight tang of mildew from old pages. She set her bags down on a table in the tiny kitchen and he separated out hers from the ones he held. He knew that if she offered for him to stay, he needed to politely refuse and go home; but when she did, he had a hard time sticking to that resolve.

"Do you want something to drink?" she asked, beginning to put a few things away in her pantry.

"Uh no, I'm fine," he replied, trying to keep the longing out of his voice. "I should get back home before this meat spoils."

"Oh yeah," she said, almost sounding disappointed.

He almost choked on his next words, "See you tomorrow morning then?"

Her eyes lit up once again and he felt better, "Yeah! Eight thirty…I'll be at the station."

"Okay. Goodnight Levy," he said, turning to leave her.

"Gajeel," she called after him, and he almost knocked a book off an end table, he turned around so fast.

She paused, as if she hadn't decided what to say next. "Thank you again. Today was…really great," she finished.

"For me too," he answered her, a little more meaningfully than he had meant to.

She smiled at him, and he forced himself once more to turn around and walk out of her living room.

"Goodnight," she said from the door, once he was out in the hall.

"'Night," he answered, loving the sound of the smile in her voice; then he picked up his pace to leave.

This mission was going to be as painful as it was enjoyable if he was going to be forced to hold back his intentions for long. No doubt though, Lily would have some words of wisdom to impart to him when he got home. He was a little afraid of what his cat had to say to him – but he knew Pantherlily approved of his attentions toward Levy, so he didn't let it concern him too much. He got home and entered through the unlocked door, which meant Lily was already there. He stepped into his living room to find his cat not only there, but sitting on the arm of the couch with a snarky grin on his face.

"_Oh this is going to be good,"_ Gajeel thought.

**K.K: Okay, give it to me straight. Are we liking the inner turmoil? Too much? Not enough? R&R peoples! Love to all!**


	4. Journey

Dragon Script

Chapter 4: Journey

Gajeel regarded Lily for a moment before moving to the kitchen to put the groceries away. He didn't have to say anything right now; his cat was patient and would wait for him to finish. It only took a few minutes to stow the food in its proper place before he returned to the living room and flopped on the couch, his head leaning next to Lily's side. The whole thing had the outward appearance of a therapy session, and Gajeel had a sneaky suspicion that it was headed that way quickly. Still, he had been very communicative today regarding his feelings – directly or indirectly – so he supposed he could keep it up a little longer. With that in mind, he decided to break the silence first.

"Did you win?"

"I did indeed, one out of seven. Don't let that child's innocent features throw you – she cheats."

Gajeel chuckled, "You win some, you lose some."

"Ah. And you? Did you win some today?"

"Win some what?" Gajeel asked, deciding to play dumb.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You've been out all day with Levy – something must have happened."

Gajeel shrugged, "We spared, we came back, she cried, I gave her a drink, we shopped, the end."

"Do you really expect me to believe that's all that went on?" Lily asked, as if the idea amused him greatly.

"That's why I like you…you're not that gullible."

"So I can pretty much guess the first part of your day. You spared, you got hot, you went for a swim - did I miss anything?"

"Yes. Did you know that the human body can _skip _on water? It's hilarious."

"Gajeel! You skipped her on the surface of the water? What is wrong with you?"

"It was funny. And she was fine – she's tougher than she looks."

"Of that I'm aware. Now tell me what happened when you went after her with the drink. What was that anyway? It looked delicious."

"Strawberry lemonade. I found her out by the aqueducts and she told me what Jet and Drory said. They flipped out on her for spending time with me and told her that they weren't gonna be on her team anymore if she kept on considering me a friend."

"Sounds very extreme, even for those two."

"Yeah well, she told me she thinks it's less about what I've done and more about them being jealous. Apparently, they both like her."

"Ooh, a love triangle," Lily purred.

"No! To be a love triangle, she'd have to like one of them and she doesn't."

"Hmm, struck a nerve did I?"

Damn it, his cat was playing him, "All I'm saying is, it's a case of…what is it called…unrequited love, times two."

"Wow. You have been hanging out with her a lot haven't you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"'Unrequited' Gajeel? Really?"

"Are you calling me stupid? I knew that word before I met Levy."

"But you wouldn't be caught dead saying it before you met Levy," the feline countered.

"Whatever. Anyway, we talked and then decided to meet back up for a food run. That's it."

"Why did you decide to spend more time with each other after you had spared in the morning and shared lemonade near the water. And don't think for one second that I believe that's _all _that happened after she told you about Jet and Drory."

"Sheesh, you are persistent today cat."

"Answer the question."

"Fine! I wanted to spend more time with her because I enjoy being around her. Are you happy?"

"Almost. _Why _do you enjoy being around her? What about her drives you to seek her out more and more?"

Gajeel sighed, and pushed his arms behind his head, "I like spending time with her because she makes me feel like a good man."

Pantherlily seemed to like this response; he made an agreeing sound in his throat, "Ah. Now we come to it. She makes you feel like a _good _man. Did you not feel this way before?"

"Well, I guess I did – but I felt like I was the only one who saw myself that way. Now that I know she sees me that way, it makes my view of myself seem more real."

"I see you as a good man," Pantherlily added.

"I know that Lily – but you never saw who I was before. You never saw what I did to this guild…and to Levy."

"You told me what you did and how you had changed."

"I know, but it's different. Lily if you had seen they way I bolted her to that tree and marked her with my old guild's symbol, it would make your stomach turn."

"Is that what you are dreaming about when you wake up in a cold sweat and keep repeating 'I'm sorry' in the middle of the night?"

"I kind of hoped you didn't hear that. But yeah."

"You almost strangled me once in my sleep during that nightmare, it was difficult to ignore."

"Oh…sorry."

"It's fine, I wasn't in any real danger. So, now I must ask you the big question."

"Which is?"

"Do you love her?"

"Yes," he replied with no hesitation. For some reason, he could be more honest with Lily than he could with himself.

"When will you tell her?"

"When I'm sure she feels the same way."

"Gajeel, surely you must see how she cares for you," Lily said, moving for the first time to bend over the couch and look him upside down in the face.

"Well, I know she likes spending time with me," he conceded. "But I need to know how much before I tell her."

"What if she is feeling the same way?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…what if she is holding back her feelings until she knows yours? You are the man here Gajeel, it is your duty to take the initiative and tell her how you feel."

"And if she doesn't think of me as more than a friend?"

"Then so be it. You are a grown man; you can handle the disappointment and move on. But I don't believe for a second that she does not love you just as much as you love her," he added.

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

"Well, I do have a good place to tell her."

"And where is that?"

"I signed us up for a mission with her. We leave tomorrow morning."

"My, my…don't we work fast," Lily commented, jumping down from the couch. "When and where and what?"

Gajeel described the mission and his idea about them running patrols while Levy helped with the dig. Lily looked pleased.

"You've got more tact than I gave you credit for, partner."

"Thanks, I think."

"Let's pack now then, and go out for dinner tonight. I don't think I can handle three days in a row of your cooking."

"Hey, I'm getting better."

"If by getting better you mean I'm not feeling nauseated at the end of every meal, then yes – you have improved."

"Listen cat – you could contribute once in a while too you know."

"I do. I am buying us dinner."

Gajeel rolled his eyes, "Alright, we'll go out."

They packed everything they would need for the trip ahead and went out to Lily's favorite little seafood restaurant. His cat had an unnatural fondness for she-crab soup, even though they both knew that Lily would be on the toilet most of the following day. But when asked why he tortured himself time and again with the laxative like entrée, he simply replied that it reminded him of home. They returned home late and went straight to bed after Gajeel took a shower.

Lily was in an especially cuddly mood, and settled himself between Gajeel's arms. The latter didn't mind; he liked it when Lily permitted him to snuggle with him – it was like sleeping with a big warm teddy bear. Not that Gajeel would ever admit in a million years that he enjoyed cuddling with anything – it was their little secret. And somewhere deep down, Lily knew that their days of snuggling together were numbered. He knew that Levy would eventually take his place here next to his partner, and though he did not begrudge her that, he would miss the warmth and companionship that he found here. And if they did end up as a couple, it wasn't as if he could sneak in at night and snuggle with the both of them. He was not a pet or a child – he was an adult who was fully aware of what went on in the beds of lovers. If he were ever going to get to snuggle with anyone again, he would need to find himself a woman of his own, and that presented him with a whole different set of problems. Oh well, he wasn't going to dwell on it anymore. He curled up in a little ball and idly hummed an Edolas lullaby, until Gajeel's soft snores enticed him into a deep sleep.

* * *

><p>Levy woke up early and arrived at the train station almost twenty minutes before her companions. She had packed a large suitcase full of reference material that she thought might be helpful in deciphering the gliphrunes of the city. She had barely left any room in her luggage for clothing and other essentials, and her suitcase was ridiculously heavy; luckily it had wheels. Gajeel and Pantherlily showed up at the departure platform slightly late, and both looking a little bedraggled. Levy was already there with her ticket when she spotted them making their way to her. Pantherlily had a little bedroll slung across his back, and seemed to be walking funny. Gajeel only carried a backpack on one shoulder, but it was his deep frown that caught Levy's attention.

"Hey guys, I was beginning to get worried," she said, greeting them with a cheerful smile.

"Yes, well someone has been slowing us down a bit this morning," Gajeel said, baring his teeth in Lily's direction.

The little feline only hung his head and looked to the side; apparently neither one of them were going to expound on that further.

"That's okay, you're both here and the train hasn't even blown its first boarding whistle," she reassured them, just as said whistle split the air with its loud shriek. "See? C'mon, let's get onboard."

"They ain't gonna let to let you take that big suitcase into the passenger car with you, you're gonna have to put it in the luggage car," Gajeel informed her. "What did you pack in there anyway?"

"Um, just some books and stuff…you know for helping me read the runes," Levy answered, looking embarrassed.

"Right. Here, you and Lily get on, I'll take it down to the back car," he offered, hoisting up the suitcase. "Damn. Did you pack your whole library in here?"

"No, just a few books," she defended. "There are some big ones in there though. I carried them downstairs all by myself," she added proudly.

"Yep, you're a regular body-builder. Now get on, I'll be right there."

She stuck her tongue out at him; then wheeled around to get on the train, earning her a small chuckle from Lily. They found an empty pair of seats facing each other near the back of the car. Levy settled in on the side facing the front of the train, Lily perched himself across from her. He still had a slightly uncomfortable look on his face, but Levy couldn't figure out what was wrong for the life of her. She hoped it wasn't because of her. What if Lily hadn't taken kindly to being volunteered for a trip without being consulted first?

"What do you think about this mission?" she ventured.

He looked up at her, a small smile forming below his whiskers, "I think it will very interesting to see what we find."

Levy's ears perked at this; maybe Lily was also interested in the dig site as well. Perhaps he wasn't in it just for the chance to catch some thieves; although, he never really had struck her as the type to want to fight just for the sake of fighting. Unlike certain other people she knew, she thought as Gajeel joined them. He sat across from her, throwing his legs up on the seat beside her and crossing them. Pantherlily looked extremely uncomfortable now, and suddenly popped up from his seat, walked across Gajeel's lap and jumped the floor, muttering "excuse me". He disappeared into the laboratory, that funny little limp back in his steps.

"Is he okay? He looks like he injured a leg or something," Levy questioned.

Gajeel snorted, "No, he's not hurt - at least, not on the outside. Stupid cat."

"Um, okay," Levy said, casting another worried glance over her shoulder.

Gajeel chuckled, "He ate three bowls of she-crab soup last night, and now he's got the runs."

Levy's eyes grew larger and she desperately tried to hide her embarrassment – that was not the answer she was expecting. "Oh," was all she could manage.

He laughed again, throwing his arms back behind his head, "So, you excited about the trip?"

She beamed at him, "Yes! I can't wait to get there."

"Well, we're not getting off this train until after dark, and we're still gonna have about an hour's walk before we get to the site."

"Yeah, I know. Oh well, it can't be helped," she sighed, stifling a yawn.

"Guess not. What, you tired?"

"Well, I probably stayed up a little too late last night," she conceded.

"Oh, lemme guess – you had your nose in those texts you brought trying to get a head start on cracking the runes. Did you even sleep at all?"

She yawned again. "About an hour," she said sheepishly.

"Maybe you better get some good sleep on the train then," he suggested. "It's going to be a long ride, so it'll help pass the time."

"Maybe you're right," she admitted.

"Here," he said, pulling his bedroll out of his backpack and rolling into a nice pillow.

She took the offered cushion gratefully, smiling at him. The corners of his mouth tugged in reply, and he shifted in his seat so that his back was against the window and his legs stretched out on his seat. She put the bedroll in the corner of her seat, next to the window as well, and curled up on her side. Gajeel crossed his arms in front of him and nestled back against the side of the car; maybe he was going to take a nap too. She shut her eyes contentedly, taking a deep breath; Gajeel's bedroll smelled like him. It was a very masculine scent, leathery with a touch of something spicy, like sandalwood. She liked his smell very much she decided, pushing her nose a little deeper into the material. She felt a little ghost of movement by her legs, before something warm and furry settled against her bare calves. She smiled, suppressing a giggle as Pantherlily's whiskers tickled her legs as he curled up against her. She cracked an eye open, catching Gajeel's sideways glance at her. He too had a little smirk on his face, enjoying the scene playing out before him. She closed her eyes again, focusing on the steady rise and fall of Lily's shoulders against her; he seemed to already be asleep. Little purring snores began to emanate from his chest, lulling her into a steady sleep as well.

All three of them dosed on an off during the day, waking to attend lunch and supper in the dining car. Levy played some puzzles to pass her few waking hours, keeping up a steady chat with both Lily and Gajeel. She found herself becoming very attached to Pantherlily. He was such an enigma to her. One minute, he would be holding a conversation with her, offering her words of wisdom on various topics and displaying his apparent age and knowledge; the next moment, he would be curled next to her or Gajeel, licking his paws or smoothing his tail. She finally decided that although he was extremely intelligent and powerful, he was still a cat, and subject to the whims that often befell his kind. This pleased her to no end, because she had long desired to cuddle with the little panther cat, but was afraid she would offend his dignity. Now that she had discovered that it was not only inoffensive to him, but sometimes preferred, she took advantage of his moods and played with him often. She loved to scratch behind his little round ears and hold him while he napped. He lapped up the attention whenever she gave it to him, purring his appreciation loudly. Gajeel would just smile and shake his head at his partner, amused that he had found someone other than Wendy to dote on him.

It was approaching nine in the evening when the train finally reached its destination. Despite all the sleep they got on the train during the day, Levy still felt tired; maybe she had overslept. The boys seemed well rested though, and Lily's stomach had finally calmed down. Gajeel unloaded her suitcase and told her he'd carry it to the ruins.

"Gajeel, I couldn't let you do that – especially after I packed it so heavy. It has wheels, I'll just roll it there."

"It's a dirt road from here on in, you'll just slow us down if you roll it."

She looked down and pondered for a moment, "Well, I'll carry it then. I don't want you to carry my stuff for me."

Lily stood between them looking from one to the other, a smirk hidden beneath his whiskers.

"Tell you what. If you can take it from me, you can carry it to the site," Gajeel offered with a come-and-get-me grin on his face.

Levy scowled at him; then huffed a little sigh, "Fine. I guess if you have miraculously unearthed a chivalrous side to yourself, who am I to interfere?"

Lily chuckled at this; shouldering his bedroll, he took the initiative and set off down the road that would lead them to the end of their journey. Levy and Gajeel followed in silence. They weren't mad at each other, but she was tired and he was solely focused on getting to the mission. She could tell he was getting more and more anxious for a fight, she could see the familiar gleam in his eye whenever his thoughts strayed in that direction. She only hoped that he could get as much enjoyment in protecting the buried city, as she would get in unburying it.

The road they took was dark and a little scary to Levy. Gajeel and Lily could see fine in the dark, but the moonlight filtering in through the trees was barely enough for her to go by. She found herself moving closer to Gajeel's side in order not to go off the path. A lonely wolf howled in the distance, interrupting the steady chime of the night insects. Those were the only other sounds besides the noise of their steps and the gentle rustling of the breeze through the tree branches. Levy edged even closer to him, bumping his arm slightly.

"What's the matter shrimp? You scared?"

"No," she answered, but it didn't sound convincing even to her.

He chuckled, "Don't worry, we'll make sure he doesn't eat you." He threw his arm over her shoulders, pulling her against his side, "Right Lily?"

"Don't worry Levy, the wolf is many miles from here. There is nothing to fear in these woods. Between Gajeel's nose and mine, nothing is going to sneak up on us," he assured her gently.

"I know. I'm not scared of the wolf. It's just, I can't really see where I'm going and I don't want to fall."

"Oh, that's why you're plastering yourself to me?"

"I am not plastering myself to you!" she protested, trying to pull away - he wasn't having any of it though.

He traded his grip on her shoulders to grab her hand, pulling her back in beside him, "C'mon. Just stay next to me and I won't let you fall. And I'll stop teasing you," he added.

"Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it," she muttered, tiredness creeping into her voice.

"We're almost there, now – just another mile or so," he said, squeezing her hand.

"Mmkay," she replied sleepily, trying not to lean on him as they walked.

Not quite twenty minutes later, they reached a bend in the road where it sloped down sharply. Below them, lit well by torches, were the ruins. The whole area off the main road was cordoned off with ropes. They turned off the main drag to a side path that led up to the dig. The ground on the outskirts was largely unexcavated; but as they got nearer, the ancient city began to take shape. It could hardly be called a city at all, now that they were this close to it. It was more like the size of a small town, with the central area still half buried in the side of a foothill, nestled at the foot of a large mountain.

"I see," Levy said. "The rest of the city must still be buried beneath our feet. That was once an active volcano, if I'm not mistaken," she said, gesturing to the hazy outline of the mountain. "It must have erupted and buried the city in ash and sediment. What is being uncovered now, must have been the pinnacle of the city – buried the least from the eruption.

Gajeel looked at her approvingly. A quick look at this place and she had already figured out so much. He expected her to be more excited in arriving here though; she must really be tired. He tugged on her hand a little as they began their climb up the steep path to the where most of the torches were concentrated. He noted how close the trees came to the edge of the site; that was probably where most of the thieves were attacking from. Levy put the last of her energy into the ascent, helped by Gajeel. She was really going to have to thank him for all this, but right now she just needed a good night's rest. Voices up the path told them they had been noticed. Seconds later, two figures carrying lanterns made their way down to meet them. Levy tried to brush off her fatigue, wanting to make a good first impression.

Their welcoming committee turned out to be two men, one probably in his late forties, the other in his early twenties, Levy guessed. They bore close resemblance to each other, probably father and son. They both had brown hair, though the younger had a reddish tint to his and beautiful green eyes. They were both nearly as tall as Gajeel, but with slighter builds. The older stepped forward to greet them, a warm smile on his face.

"Ah, you must be the mages from Fairy Tail," he said. "Welcome, welcome. I trust your journey was not difficult?"

"It was fine, thank you," Levy responded, accepting his outstretched hand.

"My name is Branford, Henry Branford. This is my son, James," he said, introducing the young man beside him.

"Can I take any of your things?" James offered politely.

"We're fine," Gajeel said flatly.

"Thank you though," Levy said apologetically. "My name is Levy McGarden. This is Gajeel Redfox, and Pantherlily."

"How do you do?" Pantherlily greeted, earning him two very surprised gasps.

"You…he…talks?" Henry gaped.

"Yeah, he talks. So what?" asked Gajeel with an irritated tone.

"It's fine, I'm used to the reactions by now," Lily assured them.

"I beg your pardon…Pantherlily. It's just we've never seen a creature like you speaking," Henry apologized.

"No need to apologize," the little cat said with a gracious smile.

"Not five minutes into the compound and you've already managed to astound us. I can't wait to see what else you have up your sleeve," James said. "Come on, let's get you up to the camping area. You must be tired," he added, looking pointedly at Levy.

She blushed and nodded sheepishly, following them as they turned back up the path. They led them off to a small plateau, where there were several pitched tents and campfires. There were about twenty tents in all, ranging from small two-man tents to family sized, and a large pavilion in the middle. Levy glanced at the uncovered section of the ruins, but she couldn't make much out in the dark.

"Would you like to take a look at what we've excavated, or wait till morning?" James asked.

"I would love to see it now," she said, stifling a yawn. "But I think we'll be able to appreciate it more tomorrow."

"I understand. Most everyone has turned in for the night already too. May I come and get you around nine tomorrow?"

"That sounds perfect, thank you," she replied.

"Would you like any help setting your tent up?" he asked her.

Gajeel suddenly appeared right behind her, "I think we can manage. Thanks for the offer though."

His tone was more civil than before, but it was still a clear dismissal. Levy wondered what had gotten into him. Why was he so standoffish when they had just arrived here?

"If you need anything, we're in the red tent by the pavilion," Henry said. "Thank you again for what you're doing here. Are you sure there is no more information that you require – anything not covered in the flyer?"

"We've got it covered. Lily and I will stand watch tonight in case your friends show up again. We don't need to know anything about them for now. You can fill us in tomorrow," Gajeel answered.

"Alright then," Henry said, seeming to appreciate Gajeel's attitude for the first time. "Thank you again."

"Thank you. Goodnight," Levy said, as they turned to head to their tent.

"Goodnight," James called back to her.

"I can help on watch too," Levy offered, once they were gone.

"Not necessary. You just get some good sleep tonight," Lily said, patting her knee from where he stood next to it.

"Yeah. Let's get your tent pitched first," Gajeel agreed.

"Guys, you really are too good to me," she said, smiling at them.

"Yeah, yeah."

The three of them unloaded her tent and had it set up in no time. She kept her books and her extra clothes in her suitcase at one end of it, her bedroll taking up most of the rest of the space. She was straightening out her blankets when Gajeel ducked inside with her.

"Comfy?" he asked, lying on his side next to her to give them more room.

"Yes, thank you for helping me put it up…or rather putting it up for me."

"You helped."

"Uh yeah, I drove _one _stake into the ground. One."

"So?"

"So thanks."

"You can stop thanking me already. It's not a big deal."

"Okay fine. Do you want any help with yours?"

"Nah, Lily and I got it. You just get some shut-eye."

"Alright, goodnight Gajeel."

"Night Lev."

She smiled at him as he backed out of the tent. Lily poked his head in beside Gajeel's arm.

"Goodnight, lovely script mage," he said with a flourish.

She giggled at him, "Goodnight, dear sir."

Gajeel just rolled his eyes at their antics and dragged Lily out with him, fastening the tent shut behind them. Levy heard them setting up their tent for the text few minutes, then listened as Pantherlily padded off for first watch. Now that she was finally able to go to bed, she didn't feel as sleepy. She changed into her pajamas and nestled down in the warm blankets. Despite the heat during the day, the nights here grew quite cool, especially at the feet of the mountains. She was grateful for her fleece blanket, since she had only packed boxers and a tank top for sleepwear. She pulled out one of her texts and decided to browse through it until she fell asleep, but her mind kept wandering back to today. She had enjoyed their trip down here. They had talked about many things, and she felt even closer to Gajeel and definitely closer to Lily. Somehow, getting to know Lily better, helped her to understand his partner better. In their conversations with each other, she noticed things she never knew about Gajeel – things that pleased her. She loved how protective he was of his little partner, and how proud he was of him. It was fun watching them together, even when they bickered good-naturedly. She smiled as the image of Lily curled up on Gajeel's stomach sprang into her mind. She recalled the look he had given her when Lily had settled down with her for the first time. She tried to remember the smell of his bedroll that she had slept on. She wished she could use it as a pillow now. Even better, she wished she were curled up next to the real thing. She shook her head, forcefully trying to clear those thoughts away.

"_Get a grip levy, it's not like that with him." _

The funny thing about trying to convince yourself that you're not in love with someone is that it never truly works.

**K.K: You know the drill, lemme know what you think. This was sort of a segue chapter into the real plot, but I'm sure you can all guess where it's headed. ;) R&R! Love to all!**


	5. Work

Dragon Script

Chapter 5: Work

Levy woke up just after eight, feeling well rested and ready for a hard day's work. She got dressed and combed her hair before stepping out into the morning sunshine. The last traces of the cool night air were mostly dissipated, leaving a thick layer of dew on the ground as its only evidence. Levy brushed her teeth, wandering over to Gajeel's tent to see if Pantherlily was awake. She pulled the tent flap aside, revealing the little feline curled up in the blankets, snoring softly. She smiled and went back to her tent. While she was swishing the toothpaste out of her mouth, Gajeel returned from his night watch, looking alert despite his early morning.

"Hey," she greeted him. "You stayed out on watch late into the morning."

"Yeah, I finished the watch around six, then ran the perimeter about four times in expanding circles trying to search out the thieves."

"Wow, that's quite a morning. Did you find anything?" she asked, trying not follow a little drop of sweat that trickled down his collarbone with her eyes.

"Well, I found some old scent trails deep in the woods, but they're too worn to track."

"Oh. Well maybe we can get some more information this morning when we talk to Henry and James. They might know something to help with the search."

"Yeah, maybe," he said, sounding doubtful.

"James said he'd come get me at nine, so you've got about forty minutes to nap before he gets here if you're tired."

Gajeel's eyes flickered over her shoulder, "Yeah, somehow I don't think so."

Levy turned to follow his gaze; James was approaching them already.

"Hey Levy…Gajeel," he welcomed. "Did you sleep well?" he asked her when he reached them.

"Yes, thank you."

"Great, then you must be ready to see the site. Would you like to come as well?" he said, addressing Gajeel.

"Sure," he responded nonchalantly.

"And you're feline friend?"

"He's asleep, we can go without him for now," Gajeel answered.

"Okay. Great, right this way."

They followed James off the plateau and up the path to the main dig site. He led them past several crews of men and women working on a section of crumbled wall outside the pinnacle building. The workers gave them mildly curious glances before returning to their tasks; one young woman smiled at them gratefully.

"So basically all we've begun to uncover is the castle at the center of the city," James said, gesturing to the partially uncovered structure peaking out from the hillside. "All of this was buried when that volcano erupted. This site was the easiest to dig up because it's the nearest to the surface. It will take years to fully excavate the whole thing, but I doubt anything of much value will be found in the lowland areas of the city. It's been buried too long and too deep. But so much has been discovered in the inner rooms of the castle, I can't wait to show you."

Levy's heart began to beat faster as they climbed the rest of the way to the massive building's face. There was a clearing in front – probably once a courtyard – and beyond that, huge stone pillars guarded the entrance. They crossed the yard, passing a circle of stones that looked to be a ruined fountain perhaps. Levy stared in awe of the massive arches above her as they walked through the pillars – this place must have been very grand once upon a time. They entered through the doorway - which was corroded, but holding most of its shape - into the soft yellow glow of torchlight. They stood in a foyer; if one could even call it that, it was so large. Before them stood two staircases positioned opposite each other that met on a balcony, which extended on either side and disappeared behind walls.

"We've been sending crew up there two at a time to investigate, but the flooring through there is not very stable," James explained. "We need to put up some braces before we can enter the second floor wings."

"Is that where the bedchambers are located?" Levy asked.

"Yes, we believe so from what we have uncovered and referencing other structures from roughly this time period."

"What about down that way?" Gajeel asked, gesturing to the right of them, where most of the activity seemed centered.

"Ah, that's where we've found the most interesting things. Come, I'll show you."

He led them down a corridor with many doors, probably the servants' wing and the kitchens. When they reached the end of it, the floor opened up into some kind of circular stone staircase, descending down to another level.

"Woah," was all Levy could manage.

"Yeah, this was discovered on accident when we were clearing debris. There's a hidden stone switch mechanism, which causes this staircase to appear. We were amazed that it still worked after all this time, but when we got down there, we discovered virtually no damage to the basement. It's perfectly preserved, if not a little dusty," he said, smirking at her.

He grabbed a torch off the wall and began to descend the staircase, "Watch your step, it's steep."

Levy followed after him, with Gajeel right behind her. The dank and moldy smell of the basement rose up to meet her, somehow adding to the excitement in its own way. She loved places like this; the darkness and mystery of it all excited her to no end. She was so eager to get to the bottom, she forgot to heed James' warning, and tripped about halfway down the stairs. She began to tumble forward, the back of James' head approaching her face rapidly. She threw out her hands before her, but was suddenly jerked back into an upright position. She turned as Gajeel let go of her shirt, smiling her thanks to him. He just nodded and said nothing. James, meanwhile, hadn't noticed a thing and was already at the bottom of the stairs, so they hurried after him. He stepped out into a huge room lined with pillars down its length. The ceiling was not very tall here, but the room was very long. Torches were lit down here as well, the only illumination for the people working down here. There were not as many as Levy would have assumed, and she soon discovered why. There was not much to be done in the way of grunt labor; as James had said, this place was perfectly preserved. There was a need of a different kind of labor, however. She approached the wall closest to her, as if drawn by some invisible force. There before her, etched in the walls, the pillars, even the floor, was a script she had seen only once before. It was a combination of hieroglyphs and ancient runes, just as she had seen in the picture from this site. She had thought that the sample she had seen bore resemblance to another northern language she knew, but now that she saw the script in its entirety, she knew that was not so. This was different from anything she had ever come across, and yet, her brain was already referencing memorized texts and attempting to decipher what was being told here.

* * *

><p>Behind her, James and Gajeel were watching her as she carefully ran her finger over the walls, moving her lips as if she were speaking, but no sounds came out. Gajeel knew this look; she was utterly lost to the world now – singularly intent on solving the puzzle in front of her. He smiled in appreciation; this was one of the things he loved most about her. He rather wished that Pantherlily were here to see her in action.<p>

"What is she doing?" James asked.

"She's reading. What's it look like?" he replied flatly.

"Yeah but, we have been working on deciphering these texts for weeks and haven't made any progress. Are you telling me she knows the language?"

"I doubt she _knows _it, but Levy can figure out anything when it comes to languages. She reads ancient crap all the time."

"Incredible," James said, his voice full of wonder and awe.

Gajeel scowled, "That's why we came together. She can help you nerds with the runes, while Pantherlily and I keep your precious artifacts from being stolen."

"I see. It was very insightful of you to bring her. She will be most helpful in getting the secrets of this castle uncovered," he said, smiling as Levy scrunched up her nose in frustration, trying to remember something she had read.

Gajeel was suddenly unsure if this was as good an idea as he had originally thought. He did not like James one iota, and now he was leaving Levy with him in this fire lit basement for who knows how long. Last night when Pantherlily returned from his patrol, he questioned him on his rude behavior to James, and the Dragon Slayer had been clear on his original opinion.

_~ "I don't like him."_

"_That's obvious," the feline replied in a low voice. "Why?"_

"_He smells funny," Gajeel said, wanting this conversation to be over._

"_Gajeel," Lily warned._

"_Fine, I don't like the way he was looking at Levy – like she was a piece of meat," he ground out between clenched teeth._

"_If you think you're the only person in the world who notices her charm and beauty – even when she is on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion – you're sadly mistaken."_

"_I know that Lily. But he was undressing her in his mind from the very moment he looked at her. Trust me, his body was betraying his thoughts – that much I could smell."_

"_I see. So you're worried about leaving her with him?"_

"_Not really. Levy would kick his ass if he tried anything, she can more than handle him. But that doesn't mean I want that bastard drooling after her all day long."_

"_Gajeel, I understand what you are saying and I do agree with you. However, we have a job to do, as does Levy. We can't watch over her all the time. You have to trust her to take care of herself. And just because someone else notices her, doesn't give you an excuse to treat him so rudely. Keep a civil tongue in your head and just ignore him. I doubt Levy will even notice him a bit anyway – she'll be far too focused on deciphering what is written in there."_

"_Yeah, you're right. There's something else about him though that I just don't like."_

"_And what's that?" Lily asked, straining for patience._

"_I'm not sure yet. I get the feeling he was hiding something tonight. It's just a hunch."_

"_Be careful that your senses aren't being confused by your emotions. If you go off half-cocked on this fellow, not only could you be wrong, you will most certainly lose Levy's respect. Patience. If he is hiding something, we will find out soon enough."_

_Gajeel sighed, "Yeah. I guess you've got a point." ~_

"So, are you usually Levy's partner?" James asked, breaking into Gajeel's thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, no. Pantherlily and I are partners, Levy's just comin' with us on this mission because it's right up her alley."

"Oh, I see. Pardon my forwardness," he asked in a lower voice, "But are you partners in any other way?"

Gajeel wanted to punch the conspiratorial look right off this bastard's mug. He remembered Lily's warning and chose his next words carefully, "I am her trainer. On this mission, I am also her guardian."

It was a not a lie, he was supposed to protect her when she needed him – although this made him sound like she was his under-aged ward. Even so, he was willing to play a little dirty in order to make it clear that Levy was _not _available for the taking. He would do anything short of lying outright to make that known.

"Ah, what I meant was, are you a couple?"

Damn it, "…no."

"I see," said James with a small smile. "I didn't think so."

"_What the hell is that supposed to mean, you scumbag?" _"She's going to be down here a while, how 'bout you show me where the bandits attacked and tell me what they took?" Gajeel suggested, struggled hard to keep the menace out of his voice.

James smiled again, as if he sensed Gajeel's abrupt change in topic meant something, "Of course. I'll take you back up to my father; he'll have all that information for you. I've got a lot to work on down here," he added.

"_Oh, I bet you do. Waste of time, pal – she ain't interested." _"That's fine. Levy, we're heading back so I can get a start on security here. You gonna be okay?"

Levy gave a distracted affirmative, reassuring Gajeel even more. She was going to be absolutely focused on cracking this script; a bomb could go off down here and she'd probably never notice. He had seen her like this before, and it warmed him even more to see her so enveloped in what she loved most. Naturally, he would eventually like to take his place in that slot, but for now he was grateful for her obsession.

He grinned at her back; then turning toward the stairs, he ordered James, "Let's go."

James followed him up the staircase, no doubt wondering why Gajeel even needed him to find his father. Gajeel wondered how much it was killing him to lose precious time with his conquest – that is, his translations. He suppressed another grin; sometimes it was so _good _to be bad. They emerged in the corridor, the fresh air smelling delicious against the dank of the lower level. James took the lead, escorting him out of the castle boundaries and back down the hill, the way they came. They found Henry and Pantherlily talking by the broken wall that crept its way down from the castle. Lily saw their approach and greeted them, frowning a little when he saw two instead of three.

"Where's Levy?" he asked.

"She entered translation mode, we couldn't pry her off the runes if we tried," Gajeel answered him.

Lily chuckled, "I see."

"We came up here to discuss the robberies," Gajeel told Henry. "We need to know all the information you have, even the little details."

"Well, you don't need me for this. I'll head back down and help Levy," James said.

"Just a moment, son. You are the only one who actually _saw _the thieves – you should stay and tell them everything. My memory gets fuzzy on all the details."

James tried to hide his exasperation, "That's true."

"Wait a minute, you _saw _them?" Lily asked.

"Well, sort of. I didn't get a very good look. I should go back to the beginning. The first time they hit us was several months ago, when we first started making headway in discovering artifacts inside the castle. There were some journalists who came by and wanted to post an article in their geographic magazine about what we had found here. Naturally, we wanted to get as much publicity as possible so that we might be able to get more grants and possibly attract more archaeologists to help with the excavation. After the article was published, we got our first visit from the thieves. The artifacts were being kept in a shed behind the tents on the plateau. We foolishly left it unguarded, and almost everything we had found until that point was stolen. No one saw a thing."

"We lost so many precious clues into the history of who lived here. We didn't even have time to truly study each artifact in full; they were taken almost as soon as we found them," Henry said. "It's set some of our research back considerably."

"Hm. When was the next time they attacked?" Pantherlily asked.

"Well, after the first time, we requested the military assign a squad of soldiers here to protect the artifacts. They did for a while, but they could not stay indefinitely and after six weeks, they left. Just before they deserted us, we had uncovered another piece in the basement of the castle – some sort of mechanical device. When the troops left, we assigned a guard to the shed. But some time during the night, he was knocked out and the device was taken. Again, no one saw anything, and the guard remembers nothing about his attacker."

"Hold up. You kept the artifacts in the _same _shed they had been stolen out of the last time?" Gajeel asked incredulously.

"Uh, yes – it's the only wooden building that can be locked," James answered defensively.

"Did you think maybe if you had hid the stuff with your own belongings or tools that the robbers would probably give up searching for them? It's not like they would go searching all the tents looking for it – they'd get caught."

"I hadn't thought of that," Henry said. "We should have considered that instead."

"Instead of what?" Lily asked.

"Well, the next time we discovered something of value, I sent James and three other men to deliver it to the museum that employs us."

"What happened?" Gajeel prompted.

"We were ambushed before we even got to the train station. We were on the trail in the woods and then all the sudden the air was filled with gas. It was thick, so we couldn't see very well and it started gagging us. We lost consciousness pretty quickly. I remember feeling someone turn me over onto my stomach – I had the artifacts in a backpack – but I caught a glimpse of the man over my shoulder."

"What did he look like?" Lily asked.

"He seemed tall, but then again, I was on the ground. He had a bandana over his mouth, so I couldn't see his face well. But I do remember he had gray hair and dark eyes. He also looked like he had a scar across his forehead and down his temple, possibly down his cheek. That's all I remember before I blacked out."

"That scar should make it easy," Lily said.

"So what we've got here is someone who knows what they are doing," Gajeel stated. "Anyone who would deal in ancient artifacts instead of straight up gold or drugs is probably a little more educated that you're average thief, unless they have a contract with a specific buyer who's hiring them out to do this. They must have you under surveillance, since they knew when you found something. They don't seem to be all that violent though. They've only knocked out your people so far, when they could have just as easily killed them. Of course, killing someone would get the police forces involved and they wanted to continue hitting this place over and over."

"They're very patient too, to wait for over six weeks for the army to move out," Pantherlily added.

"Yes indeed. So what do you think we should do?" Henry asked.

"You're going to do just as you've been doing. In fact, the next time you find something, you're going to put it right back in that shed, same as before," Gajeel said.

"Why would we do that? You said yourself that was a mistake," James asked.

"Because now you have us. You're going to lure them in just as before, making sure they know it's in the same place. Except this time, there will be more than treasure inside that shed," Gajeel said with a nasty grin.

"You're going to booby trap it?" Henry asked.

"I suppose that's one way to say it. We're going to put Lily inside the shed. When they open it, they'll get the surprise of their life."

"What's that? A talking cat?" James asked spitefully.

Gajeel bared his teeth a little at him, "Pantherlily has two forms. You haven't seen his other one – pray you never do."

Lily smirked at his partner's tone, he knew that Gajeel hated it when people underestimated his cat, "You needn't fear," he assured them. "We'll take care of your pest problem once and for all."

"We'll run circles around the camp and make them think that we're just patrolling. I'll make sure to leave a long enough gap for them to slip through unnoticed, but as soon as they do, I'll smell them out and track them from behind."

"When they attack, they'll be caught between the hammer and the anvil," said Pantherlily, a little gleam in his brown eyes.

"Sounds like a good plan thus far," said Henry. "I do pray that you are successful."

"When you decided to hire Fairy Tail mages, success was guaranteed," Gajeel said proudly.

James sneered behind his back, "I'm going to head back now and help with the translating…unless you still need me here, Father?"

"No, no, I think we're done here. Best let these two do their job and we'll do ours. Anything you need from us, let us know and we'll do our utmost to provide it," Henry said.

Pantherlily smiled at him, "We will."

"Lily, why don't you take Levy's books down to her?" Gajeel suggested. "James will show you the castle and where she is. I'm sure she'll want those references."

"I can take them down myself," James volunteered, all politeness again.

"Oh, that's fine, I don't mind bringing them down. Besides, I'm curious to see the inside of that structure," Pantherlily insisted.

"That's right, you haven't seen it yet. I'll accompany you as well," said Henry.

"Just wait here a moment while we go gather her things," Lily said, taking to the air.

Gajeel followed him down the path to the plateau. They reached Levy's tent and crawled inside, it was a snug fit for Gajeel. He took in the sweet fruity smell that was all hers, closing his eyes for a moment.

"If you're done memorizing her scent, can you help me open this trunk?" Pantherlily quipped, smirking at him.

"Yeah, yeah," Gajeel reluctantly crawled across her blankets to the back of the tent, pulling her trunk down flat to open it.

He popped the lid and went to grab her books. Unfortunately, having half of the contents removed had made everything inside the trunk loose. The books were covered with various articles of clothing and a few odds and ends. Amazingly enough, most of the contents of this trunk – besides the books – appeared to be underwear. Pantherlily gulped a little and turned pink right up to his little round ears; Gajeel's face mirrored his own. Hesitantly, Gajeel flicked aside a pair of lacy pink underwear to reach for a textbook. Despite the scent of the old books, her trunk still held her sugary smell in all of her clothes and soaps. He reached for another book, trying desperately not to touch a bra that overlapped most of the cover. His fingers brushed the edge of the cup and he flinched slightly.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Pantherlily cried. "At this rate it'll take twenty minutes just to pull her books out of here.

Finding his courage, the little feline bent over the trunk and pawed all of her unmentionables over to one side, exposing the books. He scanned the covers of each and grabbed the ones that seemed to be useful – which proved to be all of them except for a copy of this month's Sorcerer Magazine. They stacked all the books and tied them together with some rope that Pantherlily grabbed from their tent. Gajeel was backing out of her tent when Pantherlily put a paw on his shoulder.

"You didn't tell them everything did you? You're keeping something back."

Gajeel looked thoughtful, "I can't prove it yet, so I didn't mention it – but I think this might be an inside job."

"I agree; the facts seem to point that way."

"Someone who has access to the artifacts is giving the information up to these guys – where they are, when to attack, and who's going to be guarding them. That's probably another reason why no one has been seriously hurt."

Gajeel frowned a little, turning something over in his mind. Something here didn't add up.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Why do you think James was in such a hurry to leave us when he's the only person who's actually 'seen' these guys? Don't ya think he'd want to be as helpful as he could, since he loves this ancient crap so much?"

"I think his reason to leave in a hurry starts with a 'Le' and ends with a 'vy'," he said dryly. At Gajeel's glower he continued, "Still, I agree, it's a little suspicious, since this is he and his father's passion. But not enough to go on," he said, a little warning in his voice.

"I know, just throwing it out there."

"Well, we can speculate all we want later. I'm going to take these to Levy now; are you going to start a perimeter run?"

"Yeah."

"I'll join you as soon as I've dropped these off and taken a quick look around."

"Okay, seeya in a bit," Gajeel said, backing out of the tent and stretching in the sunshine. _"Time to go to work."_

He took off into the woods and began his circle of the site while Pantherlily hoisted the stack of books and managed to get airborne. The little Exceed found James and Henry where he had left them, brushing off their immediate offers to help him carry the books.

"Oh, it's fine, I've got them," he assured.

He followed the Branford's up to the ruins, taking as much in as he could while they made their way down to the basement. There was something about this place that made his fur stand on end; not from fear, but from excitement. It held a sense of power long forgotten – he wondered if Gajeel could sense it too. They made their way down the long staircase to the bottom, the dank air penetrating his senses. Pantherlily noted that the ceiling was low, but the length of their descent suggested this was far underground. There must be many feet of stone in between this huge room down here and the floor above them. It would take a very long time to dig down here if the stairway had not been discovered – it might never have been found at all. Something else didn't make sense to him.

"James, is this the only access to this basement?" he asked, gesturing to the staircase they had just come down.

"No, there are three other entrances down here that seem to lead up to the chambers two floors above us – but they are all caved in."

"I see. Levy," he called, winging over to the little blue haired mage. "I brought your books."

Levy tore herself away from the runes on the wall and greeted him warmly, "Lily! Oh thank you so much. I was just beginning to really need these, but I didn't want to leave to get them," she said, a little embarrassed.

"I understand," he said, setting the texts down and untying them for her. "This must be wonderful for you," he added, smiling.

"I can't even describe how happy I am. This is the most fascinating thing I have ever tried to read. It's so intricate," she said, running her fingers gently over the carvings in the wall beside her.

"I'm glad for you," he said, patting her arm.

James sat down next to her and picked up one of her books, thumbing through the pages, "This is fantastic. I wish I had reference material like this – it would make deciphering these a lot easier."

"Yeah, Fairy Tail is really good about collecting these texts. It definitely makes the job much easier," she said, picking up another book and looking for a specific page. "Ah, here it is," she said, holding the book up to the wall.

Pantherlily watched her descend into her own little world again as she flipped through the pages and compared some of the writings on the parchment to those on the walls. James would have a hell of a time flirting with her while she was so engrossed in what she doing. He almost wanted to stay and watch him try, but alas, he had a job to do.

"I'll be off now," he said, more to Henry than anyone else.

"Alight. Thank you again for all you are doing," the older man said.

"Of course. Keep an eye on them," Lily added, gesturing to the two young people on the floor.

"Ha, don't worry – I'll make sure they keep their noses to the grindstone. I don't think I'll have to encourage Levy too much though," he said with a chuckle.

"No, I doubt that as well," Lily agreed. _"Just make sure your son keeps his hands to himself – if you know what's good for him," _he added mentally.

Lily took off back up the stairs and began searching for Gajeel. Time to get on with their part of this mission. He only hoped that Gajeel would remain focused on what he needed to do, and wouldn't let the aggravation of so-called competition distract him from his duty. Lily wasn't all that worried though. His partner was a lot more responsible when it came to missions than he let on. They would solve this problem for the explorers in no time, and Levy would be able to help tremendously with the translations. In the end, everything should work out for all parties involved – except perhaps the inside man, if there was one. The more he considered all that James and Henry told them though, the more likely it seemed that someone was filtering information to these bandits. Perhaps later he would question some of the other workers and get their opinions. Below him, he spotted Gajeel cutting a trail through the forest. He swooped down to join him – time for work.

**K.K.: Hello all! Okay, so this was a wicked hard chapter to write - nothing kills romantic atmosphere like ancient ruins, I have found. At least it's finally done - I hope you don't think it's too boring. Things will pick up again in the next chapter, I promise. :) R&R everyone! Love to all!**


	6. Discovery

Dragon Script

Chapter 6: Discovery

Lily and Gajeel ran the perimeter most of the day, wearing down three trails in the forest surrounding the dig site. Though the surveillance was mostly for show, they used the exercise as physical training, pushing their endurance to its limits. With no scent tracks to follow and no new artifacts to use as bait, they really had nothing else to do. Pantherlily took a couple breaks during the day to talk to some of the other workers on the site. He met most of them by evening, but discovered no additional information to aide in unraveling the mystery. By suppertime, he and his partner were exhausted, but pleased with their training experience. Gajeel went to the camp's makeshift bathhouse to get freshened up before they all ate together, while Lily chose to lick himself clean. It was dark before the food was ready, and since both of them had run straight through lunch, they were famished. Chili and bread never looked or tasted so good to them. Levy, James, and Henry joined them with two other men who were helping them translate, Nero and Kane. Gajeel looked Levy over carefully, trying to get any clues as to how her day had gone. Judging from her bloodshot eyes, she hadn't looked away from those runes in the ten hours since he had seen her last. He noted that James didn't have quite the chipper attitude he'd displayed in the morning either.

"Hey shrimp, you look beat," he greeted her, when she collapsed beside him on their log bench.

"Yeah, it's been a long day," she said, too tired to comment on his nickname.

He watched her tiredly spoon some chili into her mouth and wash it down with cold water. She looked even cuter when she was all sleepy like this; he wanted to scoop her up and take her to her tent…maybe cuddle for a while. He shook his head, trying to clear those thoughts away. This was not the time to get carried away with romantic fantasies.

"So how did the translating go?"

"Slow," she said. "This language is really complex, and even with all my references, it's still really hard to figure out the script. Some of them I have nothing to go on at all, and so I just have to make an educated guess based on the context of the word."

"Sounds frustrating."

"It is, but at the same time, it's really exciting. As far as I know, this is the only place ever found that has this exact language. It's completely isolated to this region for sure – it may be the only surviving source. The volcano actually served to preserve it perfectly for all this time."

"Huh, that's interesting," Gajeel said, trying to sound like he actually believed that.

"Yeah," she said, a huge yawn causing tears to spring to the corners of her eyes. "It really is."

He smiled at her as she slowly finished her food, one slow-chewing bite at a time. He glanced around their little eating area, taking in the surroundings. They had a few collapsible chairs set up around a large campfire, but mostly people sat on logs. Most everyone had finished their supper and were preparing for bed – early to bed, early to rise. James and Henry were talking on the other side of the fire with the two other translators, who appeared to be brothers. The cook was clearing away the last of the dishes and food; she raised her eyebrows at him when she caught his eye, silently asking if he wanted more to eat. He shook his head, so she went about her task of cleaning up again. Pantherlily was sitting next to him, munching contentedly on a crust of bread. The little Exceed had packed away three bowls of chili that night; Gajeel wondered where he put it all.

A sudden pressure on his shoulder brought his attention back to Levy, who appeared to have fallen asleep on him. All he could see was the top of her head leaning on his arm and her little hands folded in her lap, but the steady sound of her breathing told him she had indeed dozed off. He smiled triumphantly, fighting the urge to direct it in the general direction of James. Lily placed a balancing paw on his leg as he leaned forward to peak at the solid script mage. He purred in the back of his throat, sending Gajeel a little smirk under his whiskers.

"I think it's time to take her to bed," he whispered.

Gajeel nodded, carefully maneuvering his arm around Levy's shoulders so that her head rested on his chest. She didn't even stir at his movement, so he rotated a little more towards her and leaned forward slowly to put his other arm under her knees. He rose gingerly, pausing when she began mumbling something. But she only nestled her head a little closer to him and settled back down. Their tents were directly on the other side of the fire, and Gajeel had no problem with walking right past James and the other three, Lily padding along behind him.

He heard one of the brothers commenting in a whisper to his companions, "Aw, that's cute. She worked really hard today, no wonder she's so tired."

James said nothing, but he caught Henry adding, "I'm glad she's so well looked after."

Gajeel was really beginning to like the old man, despite his lecherous spawn. He reached her tent, and Pantherlily pulled the flaps aside so that he could get Levy in a little more easily. Still, he had to crawl in all the way himself to lay her down gently, half straddling her for leverage. Once she was down, he untied and removed her sandals and pulled the covers over her. He remained a moment, staring into her perfect face. She was so peaceful in sleep, her lips slightly parted as she breathed little shallow breaths. Lily cleared his throat pointedly outside the tent, and Gajeel reluctantly began to back out. Just then, she moved and he heard her say his name clearly; he spun around in surprise. But she was still fast asleep, her arms thrown up over her head on the pillow. He smiled, _"So she's dreaming of me, huh?"_

He resumed his retreat out of the tent, grinning toothily at Lily. His cat gave him an "I told you so" look, and went back to their tent for some shuteye.

Gajeel took first watch that night, even though there was nothing to watch. He knew there would be no thefts any time soon – there were no artifacts here to take, and they knew it. He decided to climb up to the top of the foothill that the castle was buried in so he could watch the only entrance to the castle. It was a warm night, though it was clear with a nearly full moon. The top of the hill was blanketed with thick grass, about knee high to Gajeel. If he were really here on a stakeout, the grass would provide perfect cover for him to hunker down close to the edge and survey what was going on below. He could see everything from up here – the trails that led down to the walls and the lower section of the city, the plateau to his left with all the sleeping workers. He could just see the front of Levy's little tent, peaking out from behind others. His thoughts strayed to her – not that they were ever very far from her these days. Her head leaning on her shoulder tonight had stirred something inside him again; it was as if all the forces of nature were pulling the two of them together. He didn't just want her; he _needed _her to be his. He didn't want to dominate her or wear her on his arm like a prize, but all the same he wanted her to belong to him…just as he belonged to her. Maybe that's what he would tell her; he could say that his heart was already in her possession, and ask for hers in return. _"No way, that's way to damn cheesy," _he told himself. The funny thing was, he didn't care all that much about his image when it was just the two of them. For some reason, he could bare his feelings to her just as easily as he could to Pantherlily. She knew he was strong and tough, he had showed her that many times before. But he didn't mind being gentle with her; he rather liked handling her tenderly. Two days ago, when she had sat between his legs and leaned up against him crying, he had wanted to hold her like that forever. At that moment, he didn't care who saw them – that was what she did to him. He craved more of those moments with her. He wanted to lie next to her and hold her in his arms, watching her sleep all the night through. He wanted her to bury her face in his chest and find comfort there whenever she needed it. He wanted to kiss her hair and her cheeks and nuzzle her throat until she woke up and kissed him back. He wanted to be able to let his hands roam over her wherever they wanted to go, as hers would be exploring him. He wanted…

Gajeel shook his head, clearing his mind. Wanting her was one thing, but lusting after her like some pervert was quite another. Of course he desired her in every way, but thinking about her like that was only going to get him into trouble. There was still a chance that she really didn't care about him in that way – and having those thoughts of her in his mind would only make it harder for him to let go of her. He really didn't want to imagine what he would do if she did reject him, but not considering it as a possibility would be foolish. He yawned and stretched; it would still be several hours before Lily came to relieve him, and though this watch was mostly for show, he still needed to stay awake. A wolf howled many miles away, catching his ear; he wondered if it was the same one as before. He sounded lonely to Gajeel. _"I hear ya, pal. I hear ya."_

* * *

><p>Gajeel woke up very late the next morning. He supposed that running all day long and then keeping the night watch until three o'clock in the morning really took its toll. Lily came in sometime around eight and curled up with him, making him all warm and comfy. They finally got up around ten thirty, hunger driving them from their slumber. The cook was kind enough to warm them up a late breakfast of biscuits and gravy; it was delicious. Pantherlily struck up a conversation with her while Gajeel wolfed down his food. Her name was Leah; she was older than them, perhaps in her forties. Her husband was a worker and her two sons were translators, she told them.<p>

"The two that are working with Levy and Branfords?" Lily asked.

"Yes, Kane and Nero, they're twins. They've been with us on archaeological digs since they were babies. I homeschooled them and they both went to university to study ancient languages. Now they're back with us and putting their learning to good use."

"Fascinating. You must be a very close family."

"Oh yes, I have been blessed with two sons who care very much for their parents. I think they both decided to come back with us to keep an eye on us though, sweet boys. Kane is courting Sara; have you met her?"

"I believe I did speak with her yesterday," Lily said. "Red hair?"

"Yes, that's her. They've been going steady for about a year now. We're expecting a proposal soon," she added with a whisper.

The Exceed smiled at her, "I wish them both happiness."

She returned the smile merrily; then suddenly turned her attention to Gajeel, "What about you and that little blue-haired girl?"

"Huh? What about us?" he asked, confused because he hadn't really been paying attention to the conversation up until now.

"I saw her fall asleep on you last night before you whisked her away," she said, winking at him.

"Oh uh, we're just friends," he said, fighting the blush that threatened to color his nose.

"For now," Lily added with a smirk.

"Ah, I see," Leah said with a knowing voice, nodding her head. "Let me offer you a little advice…don't wait long before telling her how you feel. It's obvious she likes you, so don't keep her in suspense."

Gajeel fought back irritation; he didn't even know this woman and she was giving him advice on his love life. Still, she was a mother and that was just how mothers were, he supposed. So, he swallowed his pride and remained civil.

"Don't worry, I'm not planning on keeping her in the dark much longer," he said in his normal gruff voice, but with a lopsided grin tugging at his mouth.

"Good for you! I wish you luck," she said, beaming at him in that motherly way.

Gajeel couldn't help but smiling a little at her. He'd never known his mother, and Metalicana wasn't exactly the finest parent figure in the world – being the conceited bastard that he was. Leah was showing him kindness and offering him advice in a way that his real mother would have; the feeling was strange, but not entirely unwelcome. He didn't have much time to dwell on those sentiments though, because just then, Nero came bounding up to them, completely out of breath.

"My goodness, what's happened son?" Leah cried, instantly worried.

Nero was bent over panting, his hands on his knees. But when he looked up from under his shaggy black hair, he was grinning ear to ear.

"You've gotta come see this, Dragon Slayer," he said. "We found something incredible, and Levy wanted to show it to you herself."

That got Gajeel's attention, "What is it?"

Nero shook his head, "Un uh, she's gonna show you – just follow me. You come too Mom," he added, grabbing his mother's hand and hauling her after him.

The four of them made their way back up to the ruins, heading straight for the lower level. Gajeel didn't wait and raced down the steps in front of them, zeroing in on Levy's scent immediately. She was at the far end of the room to the right of the staircase, standing in front of the furthermost wall. The entire wall was lit up with torches; basking the room in a warm yellow light. Something about this wall seemed different from the others though. Levy turned when she heard him coming, her expression ecstatic.

"It's a book!" she announced, running up to him and grabbing his arm, pulling him toward the wall.

"Huh?" he asked, completely confused.

"This back wall is a book," she said. "Once you read what's on the first page – or wall rather – out loud, you activate a spell that makes that wall cleave down the middle and separate. It stows back into the sidewall here, you see? It's like a pocket door, and it reveals the next page behind it."

Gajeel stared at where she was pointing, amazed. She was right; the front wall had slid back into the sidewall almost seamlessly, revealing a track on the bottom that allowed it to move.

"So what does the book say?" he asked, because he knew she didn't call him down here just to show him a pocket wall, remarkable though it was.

"That's what I wanted to show you," she said, her eyes alight with excitement.

"We've been able to discover from the writings on the walls, that this city was the home of a tribe of people who worshipped the great dragons. Their ancestors go back thousands of years to the very beginning of magic – when humans first began to learn magic more precisely."

"Amazing," Leah said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Lily nodded his head in agreement.

"But what's more," Levy continued, "These people have recorded the exact moment that a human first learned magic; and most importantly, from _whom _he learned it."

"A dragon?" Gajeel asked, even though something deep down told him he had known the answer always.

"Yes; the King of Dragons more specifically. He has many names and titles, but it seems that he was known to the people here as Arawn. He found an orphan boy named Uries, and took pity on him. He raised him, teaching him the secrets of magic. He told Uries that within each individual lies an unopened box of magic potential, and he gave him the key to unlock it. The boy grew up and took many apprentices, spreading and developing magic wherever he went. Each apprentice that unlocked his or her box had something new to bring to the table, and these early people revered the dragons as the Keepers of the Key."

"But why don't we have any records of this?" Gajeel asked. "I was told no one knew when magic began or who really taught it. Metalicana never told me it was the dragons who first showed it to humans."

"Well, I haven't finished reading this page yet, but I suspect that the next few pages will probably explain that," Levy said. "I get the feeling something really tragic is about to be revealed here though; I almost don't want to know."

Gajeel laid a hand on her shoulder, "Whatever you find here – good or bad – we need to know the truth."

"I know," she said, squaring her shoulders. "Give me a few hours to translate this and get to the next pages. Once I figured out the alphabet, reading it hasn't been too difficult. It shouldn't take long to finish what's here, assuming there's not too many walls behind this one."

"I'm sure you'll have it read soon. Did you bring your glasses?"

"Oh, um yeah, I did. But," she lowered her voice, "it really wouldn't be fair of me to read it so quickly when no one else can read it that fast. Besides, it has to be read aloud before the next wall will appear, and we have to record what's on these walls one at a time."

"Oh."

"Either way, I should have a lot more information by dinner time," she said.

"Okay. I better go start patrolling soon. Hey," he said suddenly, pausing to think how to put this. "Are you okay down here? Nobody's giving you a hard time, right?" he whispered.

"Oh no," she said, matching his tone. "Everyone's been really kind to me. The twins are really funny – they make jokes all day long and keep the mood light, even when we've been down here for hours and our brains are fried."

"Good," he said, looking at the two young men working on recording the wall.

They had taken photos and were now making rubbings of the walls with long rolls of thin parchment. Even though James had immediately put him on edge with his obvious interest in Levy, he didn't get the same vibe with these two. Besides, it's not like he could be jealous of every single male in Levy's life that wasn't him. Just the ones who had clear intentions warranted his watchfulness, he thought, casting a sidelong glance at James. The other man was watching him as well, with a notably sour look on his face. _"What's his problem?" _he wondered. He didn't waste much time thinking about it though. He bid farewell to Levy, pausing to ruffle her hair the way he always used to. Instead of acting annoyed, she smirked at him and rolled her eyes, returning to the wall to help with the rubbings. He and Lily left to begin their patrols, leaving the scholars to do their job as well.

* * *

><p>Dinner came earlier that day than yesterday, and Levy was relieved to be able to break for the night. She had discovered some heavy things over the course of the day, as each wall revealed more of the story. It had been heartbreaking indeed, driving her to tears as she read it aloud. Even the twins couldn't find anything to joke about as they heard how bitter the truth really was. When they arrived at the campsite to eat, she found Gajeel and Lily sitting together on the same log as yesterday. They both looked up at her with expectant eyes as she approached, but her expression must have told them everything.<p>

"What is it? What really happened?" Gajeel asked.

She shook her head, "I can't tell you. After we eat, I'll take you back there and show you."

Gajeel nodded in understanding, "Okay."

The three of them continued their meal in silence; Levy more picking at hers than actually eating it. When they finished, she told Kane that she was going to take Gajeel and Lily back down to the lower level to show them the story. He agreed that it was probably a good idea, a sorrowful expression flashing across his features before he covered it. They began to make their way back up the familiar path, when Lily suddenly stopped.

"You know what; this is probably something that the two of you should see alone," he said. "I am not from this world, and the magic in Edolas has a different history from yours. You can tell me about the truth of the dragons of this world later. But for now, share this moment together."

"Are you sure Lily?" Levy asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. I shall continue the patrols, as night will be falling soon. I'll take first watch tonight, Gajeel."

"Okay, I'll see you in a while, partner. Thank you," he added, offering his cat a small smile.

Lily left them, and they continued up into the ruins. In the courtyard, Levy used her solid script to light two torches to illuminate their way inside. Gajeel followed her as they returned to the very place they had stood together only hours before. The scene had changed again from the last time he saw it, and she explained to him that they had reached the end of the story. Now, instead of runes on the walls, there was only an etched picture before them. It depicted a massive dragon flying high above the city, as it must have looked then. The mountain behind the city was spilling liquid lava down its sides onto the castle, threading its way down to the buildings below in rivers of fire.

"The dragon destroyed the city?" Gajeel asked. "But I thought the people who lived here worshipped him."

"They did, but they betrayed him," Levy said, her voice full of sadness.

She took his torch from him and touched it to a large stone cauldron on the floor, the contents of which sprang up in a fierce flame. She lit two more before placing their torches in iron holders on the pillars behind them. She went over to where the translators had left some of their equipment for the night and dragged over a large pad used to cushion the floor while they worked. She placed it in front of the wall a little ways back and flopped backwards on the thick padding. Gajeel followed and sat alongside her, looking down at her as she prepared to tell the tale.

"Many, many generations after the first magic users, humans discovered an alternate source of magic," she began. "It seems, that some of the demons that lived in that time could also use magic, and had developed it for evil purposes. It's unclear whether the demons learned magic from the dragons before humans did, only that they had twisted it into something horrid. The dragons forbade humans from learning these dark arts, and Arawn assigned many of his brethren to oversee the humans to make sure they were obeying those wishes. For a long time, everything remained peaceful in the human world, with the dragons ruling supreme and demons not daring to challenge them openly. However, one demon named Sidonia, whispered into the ear of a powerful mage, telling him that the dragons were holding back on the humans because they didn't trust them with their full power. She told him that the dragons feared the humans, who outnumbered them greatly, and only gave them half of their power and knowledge of magic. She also said that she had learned of the other side of their power, and had taught it to many of her demon kind. She wanted to challenge the dragons and live as equals with them, resenting their rule. The mage agreed and followed her, making a blood pact with her. Using his influence, Sidonia and other demons like her, drew up an army of human followers and taught them the black magic they knew. When the time came, there was a great war between the dragons and their followers and the demons and theirs. It was a bloody war, which raged for two years. This city was the last stronghold of the dragon followers and the king who ruled here held out for a long time when the battles began to bode badly for the dragons. But then his son betrayed him and killed him, taking this city for the demons. Arawn himself recorded all of this here on these walls, and then burned an image of the fate of this city before destroying it with the volcano."

She stopped, nearly choking on her last words. She lay back on the mat, her hands behind her head. Fat tears ran down her cheeks, into her ears and hair.

"But that doesn't make any sense," Gajeel said, gritting his teeth. "Why don't we have any history of this? If the demons won the war, how come we still have mostly good mages today? I don't get it."

"I don't either. Maybe the balance between the good and evil forces balanced out again. Maybe humankind tried to wipe out that bloody chapter of their history."

"Or maybe the people of this city worshipped the dragons and wrote a mythology about them and magic."

"But then why would they write a mythology in which the dragons lost? And you know yourself that dragons are strong with magic, you were taught by one."

"Yeah, Metalicana does have some strong techniques that he taught me," he agreed.

Suddenly, a symbol at the bottom of the etched picture glowed brightly, attracting their attention.

"What was that?" Levy asked, sitting bolt upright.

"This symbol just glowed," Gajeel explained, brushing his hands over the carving. "Wait, this is Metalicana's! It's how he writes his name!"

"What?" Levy asked, kneeling beside him to examine the symbol. "We saw this earlier, but they don't spell anything in the language," she explained.

"It's not the spelling of his name, just the symbol he uses to describe himself," Gajeel explained. "There are four symbols here, all forming a diamond."

"Look, this one looks like a tree burning. I wonder if it's Igneel's symbol," Levy said, jumping back when the symbol glowed red as soon as she said his name. Seeing the pattern, she pointed to the topmost symbol – a cloud. "Then this one could be Wendy's dragon's symbol. What was her name?"

"Grandeeney," he said, the third symbol glowing blue in reply.

"But what is the fourth symbol then?" Levy asked.

"Has to be another dragon. I remember Metalicana saying something about another female dragon once. She was a real thorn in his side apparently, but I never met any of the other dragons. What was her name?" he paused, mulling it over for a moment. "It started with an "Nai"…Naila, Naisa, Naida?"

The wave shaped glyph forming the right point of the diamond, glowed in response to the last name he said.

"Naida?" Levy repeated, the shape of the glowing symbol reflecting off of her face. "There are four dragons, and we know that two of them use air and fire as their elements. Do you think Metalicana's element was earth, since metal is taken from the earth? Four dragons, each representing the four elements, Air, Earth, Water, and Fire," she said.

"Grandeeney, Metalicana, Naida, and Igneel," Gajeel said, uttering their names in the same order she had labeled the elements.

All four symbols glowed at once and a deep rumbling shook the room. What had seemed before to be a seamless portrait of destruction, split to reveal another page. Levy and Gajeel jumped back and stood in front of the new wall, astonishment written on their faces. Before them was another picture, surrounded by a circle of runes describing the end of the story. The picture was a four point star, like one you would see on a map, with the four dragons flying in front of their elemental direction: Grandeedey to the North, Metalicana to the South, Naida to the East, and Igneel to the West. Levy looked to the top of the circle of rune-glyphs, reading around the circle till it reached the top again.

"I, the Dragon King, destroyed this world of chaos and removed all knowledge of dragons from those who survived. I have sealed away the great demon menace, and now we will withdraw from the human world for a time. There is evil brewing among our own kind, but I will not leave humanity helpless to it. I will send my four greatest children to teach them Dragon Slayer magic. The time will come when dragons and humans will fight alongside once more. Until then, the Elementals will watch over this world and wait for my biding."

Gajeel stood stiff as he listened to her finish, remaining that way for several minutes. She wasn't sure what to say to him. He finally took a few steps back and sank down on the mat. He pulled his knees up and rested his arms on them at the elbows. His head drooped between his arms, pulling his heavy mane of hair down over his eyes. He looked so overwhelmed, like the weight of the world had just been placed squarely on his shoulders. She supposed that it had, in a way. There were no words of comfort that came to her mind, but his position reminded her that she had been in a similar place just a couple days before. He had been there to comfort and hold her then; she had never experienced a warmer or safer place than in his arms. Maybe she could do something to return some of that warmth. She moved closer to him, stepping around the mat and approaching him from behind. Burning with embarrassment, but determined to go through with it, she reached her arms out and draped them over his shoulders. She felt him twitch a little and she wondered if she had overstepped her boundaries. But this was no different than before, so she knelt behind him, pressing up against him closely. He lifted his head a little and placed his hands over her forearms, holding her there against him. She ventured a little further and laid her cheek against his hair, breathing in his familiar scent.

"It'll be okay," was all she could manage; she didn't know how else to reassure him.

"I know it will. Sorry, it's just…a lot."

"It's okay, I understand. Do you miss him?"

"Who?"

"Metalicana."

He sighed. He had never talked to anyone about Metalicana, not even Lily.

"Sometimes. He was a real asshole most of the time, but he taught me everything I know." He laughed a little ruefully, "I guess that's why I turned out to be such jerk too."

"Stop it, you're not a jerk Gajeel."

He turned his head a little, raising an eyebrow ridge, "No? You don't think so?"

She giggled, "I'm not saying you're Mr. Personality or anything." But then her voice grew serious, "But you have shown that there is far more kindness in you than anyone has ever given you credit for…me included."

"You never stop amazing me, you know that Levy?"

"I guess the feeling's mutual," she agreed. "But you know, if all that the Dragon King says is true, you'll get to see him again. Maybe then you can tell him you missed him."

"Yeah right. He'd kick my ass if I ever said something so mushy to him. Besides, I don't have to tell him – he knows."

"Well then, you don't have to worry about it," she said cheerfully.

"Who said I was worried, shrimp?" he said, his deep voice taking a playful edge.

"Hey now, none of that," she said, pulling one arm out of his grasp to give him a noogie.

"Ow, hey!" he shouted, trying half heartedly to escape her grasp.

She laughed out loud, glad that she had been able to cheer him up. Something about her being the one messing up his hair for a change was hysterical to her. She squeaked when he decided to just lie backwards, half crushing her under his weight.

"Ack, Gajeel…can't…breath," she gasped.

He turned his body half over, so that his weight was mostly off her but she was still pinned under him. He propped himself up on one elbow, smirking at her disheveled appearance.

"What's the matter, short stack?"

She smacked his chest hard enough to sting her hand, even though she knew he barely felt it, "You are, ya creep. And stop calling me short!"

"Fine, you are a beautiful young woman…" he began, fixing her with an intense gaze.

Her eyes widened as he lowered his face down close to hers, near enough for her to feel his breath on her face. He continued down until his lips were by her ear, grazing her cheek with the tip of his nose. Her breath came in short little gasps as she frantically tried to control her heartbeat. He was so close, what was he doing?

"…who is only slightly vertically challenged," he finished, in a languid whisper.

He let the sentence hang between them for a moment, letting her get over the shock. Moment over. She couldn't believe he had just done that. He made her think he was about to kiss her and then totally insulted her. _"I take it back, he is such a jerk!" _Still, she couldn't be entirely mad at him. Even though he totally ruined the moment, he had at least started the moment. Not that she was going to let him know that she wasn't completely pissed off at him.

"You…you…I can't believe you just did that!" she yelled, trying to squirm out from under him.

"What? Called you 'short' again?" he asked innocently.

"No! Got all cozy with me and _then _called me short!"

"Oh, would you prefer that I had just gotten cozy?" he asked, rolling off her, but still remaining lying on his side next to her.

She had to ponder how to answer that one. Of course she would have preferred he kissed her instead of just teasing her, but she couldn't exactly tell him that. But she didn't want to tell him no either. Even so, her hesitation to answer him was telling a story of its own. She stared straight ahead at the carvings on the wall, racking her brain for a response.

"Well?" he prompted, his voice softer than she would have expected.

She was about to answer when her attention was drawn to the very center of the four-point star, to something she hadn't noticed before.

"What is that?" she asked, abruptly getting up and walking to the wall.

If Gajeel was irritated that he didn't get his answer, he didn't show it. He followed her to the wall and stood behind her, his gaze following hers.

"What is what?"

"There, at the center of the star, does that circle look like it's inlaid?"

"I can't tell from here, it's a little to high up."

"Will you give me a boost up there?" she asked, too curious to consider what she was asking.

He grinned, "Yeah."

He knelt down beside her and she climbed up on his back, hooking her legs over his shoulders. She was wearing a tunic with leggings today, so it was a little awkward and she had to hike up the long shirt to fit snuggly against the back of his neck, especially because she was sitting on is hair too. He stood up and took her closer to the wall. She was just about eye level now with the center of the star, and the circle at the convergence of the four lines really did look like it was fit into the wall instead of carved into it. She reached her fingers into the grooves around it and pulled, twisting a little. It moved, just barely. She pulled a little harder, putting more torque on it. Slowly but surely, the center of the star pulled free, revealing it to be a stone cylinder.

"Wow. Gajeel hold this for a second," she said, handing it down to him so she could climb off his shoulders.

She scrambled down and took it back from him, setting it down on the ground nearer to the fire light.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I think it's a container," she said, shaking it gently; sure enough, something rattled inside.

She saw a tiny line around the circumference of it, perhaps the seam to the lid. She pulled and twisted with all her might, but her fingers were still kind of raw from pulling it out of the wall. Gajeel offered to try, and got it apart with little difficulty. They slid the contents out carefully onto the mat, pulling back to stare at it.

"Again, what is it?"

"I have no idea," she said, truly puzzled.

The device inside was clearly mechanical in nature, but it's shape and construct gave them little clues beyond that. It seemed to be made from some sort of metal, perhaps copper. It had a puck shaped cylinder at its center with a handle-like piece protruding from the top, almost like the hilt of a sword. Five thin spikes extended from the bottom, four around the perimeter and one from the center.

"Well, we better take it back and find out what it is. Maybe it matches some of the artifacts that were found earlier," Levy said.

"Yep, and you know what else," Gajeel said, fixing her with a triumphant grin. "Now we have the bait for our trap."

"Perfect. Let's go and see if Henry or James know anything."

Gajeel nodded, though his expression seemed to darken as soon as she mentioned James' name. She wondered what it was about that guy that he seemed to hate so much. James had been really nice to her over the last few days; she was pretty sure he was nice to everyone. Sure, he was a bit of a flirt, but he had never overstepped his bounds with her…not that he had ever had a chance with his father and the twins there all the time. Something about him really seemed to get Gajeel riled up whenever they saw each other, but she couldn't figure it out for the life of her. She didn't waste much time thinking about it though; she had more important things to take care of. They hurried up out of the ruins and down the path to the tents. They spotted Henry talking to Leah and her husband, Brock, while helping them wash some of the dinner dishes. Most everyone else was getting ready to turn in for the night.

"Henry," Levy called out to him, running ahead of Gajeel.

"Ah Levy, did you just come back from showing Gajeel the story? Sad truth, that."

"Yes, but we discovered another page to the story!"

"What?"

"We discovered what happened after the city fell. Arawn wiped the memories of the dragons from people's minds – that's why no one believes they exist today! He also sent four elemental dragons to train four humans to become Dragon Slayers, like Gajeel. We have three Slayers in our guild, which means there is one unaccounted for."

"Incredible," Brock said.

"We also found out that the dragons will return one day to fight alongside us humans once more – maybe against the dark mage Zeref. And best yet, we found this," she said, stepping aside as Gajeel took a few steps forward and showed him the cylinder.

"What is it?" Henry asked, carefully taking the stone piece from him.

"There's something inside, look," she opened the top and they all crowded around a small table to see the contents.

"We had no idea what it was, we thought maybe you'd know," Gajeel said to Henry.

Henry studied the device for a moment, "You know, I think it may fit with one of the earlier artifacts that was stolen. Do you remember I told you that one of the pieces we lost was a mechanical device of some kind? This piece is smaller, but the construction is very similar and the material appears to be the same."

"Then we're probably not going to figure it out unless we can get that other piece back," Levy said sadly.

"That won't be hard," Gajeel interjected. "We'll use this piece as planned and when we capture the thieves, Lily and I will wring them for information on whoever the buyer is."

"Well, if you can discover the whereabouts of the artifacts we've lost, then I wish you luck," Henry encouraged, sounding doubtful that they would ever be reacquired.

"Don't worry, I'll get your stuff back," the Dragon Slayer assured him, with a wicked gleam in his eyes.

"Oh, Levy – James and I were talking this over earlier at dinner. You have put the most effort into translating the writing on the walls, and really, it was you who cracked it. You should be the one to name the language we found here," he said, taking her hand and patting it affectionately.

"Me? Are you sure?" Levy asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Of course, my dear."

She couldn't believe that he was going to actually let her _name _a language; it was almost too much for her.

She smiled at him in delight pondering her answer, "Well, since it was a dragon that wrote it, and the story is really about the dragons, why don't we call it Dragon Script? Oh, that's not very original," she hesitated.

"I like it," Gajeel said, patting her head reassuringly. "Why does it have to be complicated or original anyway? Dragons like things simple and straight forward, trust me."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah."

"I agree. Besides, the very word 'dragon' adds a sense of mystery and excitement," Leah added.

"Dragon Script it is," Henry said, as if to solidify the decision.

Levy smiled, stifling a yawn; this had been another very long day. She had gotten up at the crack of dawn to begin working, and it had proven to be an emotional roller coaster ride. She had gone from being excited about the receding walls, to sad about the story, to excited about Gajeel paying attention to her, to mad at him for being a tease, to excited again about the hidden cylinder…it had been a crazy day. She yawned again, unable to hide this one.

"C'mon, let's get you to bed," Gajeel said, tweaking one the strands of longer hair that hung next to her cheek.

"No arguments here," she said sleepily.

"Goodnight everyone," she called over her shoulder as Gajeel gently steered her toward her tent.

They called goodnight after them, and Levy could have sworn that Leah winked at her. She wondered what that was about, but she was honestly too tired to think about much of anything. Gajeel pulled her tent flap open so she could crawl in. Suddenly, she remembered a question she'd been meaning to ask him since this morning.

"Hey Gajeel," she began.

"Hm?"

"How did I get into my tent last night? The last thing I remember was eating chili. I don't even remember falling asleep."

"Oh," he chuckled. "You kind of passed out on my shoulder, so I carried you back here. You looked so exhausted, I didn't want to wake you up."

Levy could feel her cheeks burning red hot. In fact, her face might just blow away in a cloud of ash at any moment. She had fallen asleep on him? And he had carried her to her tent, laid her down, taken off her sandals, and tucked her in? Another realization hit her between the eyes at that exact moment. When she had gone into her trunk to get a new change of clothes, she had found it lying out on the floor of her tent with all the underwear on one side. Pantherlily had brought her books to her, but had he been the one to pull them out of her trunk or had it been Gajeel? She had to know.

"Gajeel? Did you get my books out of my trunk or did Pantherlily?"

Now it was his turn to blush. Guess that answered her question.

"Uh, actually we both went in to grab them…but Lily was the one who checked all the covers and pulled them out…'cause I didn't know which ones you would need," he finished lamely.

"_More like you were too embarrassed to touch them in the trunk," _she thought. Still, she felt a little better about Lily going through her underwear than Gajeel, for some weird reason.

"Oh, just wondering," she said quickly, trying to relieve his discomfort. "Um, thank you for bringing me back here last night, that was very sweet of you."

He smiled at her, "No big deal."

"Well, goodnight then."

"'Night."

She smiled at him and ducked into her tent. Once she heard him move away, she lit a lamp and dug her pajamas out of the trunk. She changed quickly, snuggling down into her blankets to escape the cold night air. She curled up on her side, reviewing the events of the evening. Gajeel was really confusing her. She suspected that he might be aware of her feelings for him; she wasn't very good at hiding them after all. And tonight he had been so close to her. She really thought that he was going to kiss her. Was she ready for this? Would she be able to go back to the guild hand in hand with Gajeel and face down the stares and the whispers? Just thinking about it made her angry. Angry with some of the guild members who she knew would make comments, and angry with herself for even caring. She had grown to love him over the last few months; of that, there was no doubt. Sure, his reputation wasn't the greatest among all the others, especially Lucy, who was having a much harder time forgiving him for past wrongs. But Gajeel was proving himself to everyone else as well, little by little. Maybe if they did come back as a couple, it would give everyone else a little nudge to accept him more. It didn't matter what she wanted though, this relationship was up to him now. She would wait until he made the first move before she would bare all of her feelings for him. That was the way it was supposed to be, right? Maybe she was just being old fashioned though. What if he really did like her, but didn't think she felt the same? What if he never confessed because he thought she was indifferent? No, that was impossible – she'd shown that she cared for him. She sighed, burrowing a little more down into the covers.

It was too much to think about now, and she was already exhausted from their day. Tomorrow, she'd have to make some rubbings of that back wall and copy it down. They had finished verbally translating all the other walls though – all that was left was rubbings and transcriptions. This had gone a lot faster than she had expected, but there was still a lot in the castle that needed to be explored. Maybe Gajeel could put up some iron support beams so that they could poke around the upper levels safely. She would ask him tomorrow morning. He shouldn't need a lot of time to lay the snare for tomorrow night either. She frowned, her mind wandering to the stolen artifact and the piece found tonight that they thought fit with it. Would they ever get that first piece back? What was it to? Were there more secrets about the dragons that this castle had to offer? She groaned and rubbed her temples, _"Sleep Levy, sleep. You can worry about all this tomorrow. Right now, you just need some good rest." _Finally, the chorus of night insects lulled her into dreamland, where all the cares of the day faded behind her into the mist.

**K.K: Whew! This was a long one. Well, I threw some more "moments" into this chapter...'cause I was missing the romance. ^_^ Next chapter will have a couple surprises in it though, so get ready. Keep the reviews coming! Love to all!**


	7. Mistakes

Dragon Script

Chapter 7: Mistakes

Gajeel had a difficult time sleeping that night – for many reasons. Despite the rather shocking news about the dragons, there was another matter that held his thoughts captive. Levy. He had been so close – he wanted nothing more in that moment, than to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless. But something stayed him; he wasn't quite sure what it was. She had been trying to comfort him as he tried to digest everything she had told him. She had been first loving, then playful, successfully capturing and holding every facet of his attention. He knew that she cared for him; the last traces of doubt had dissipated into the cool damp air of that basement tonight. And yet, he couldn't bring himself to actually tell her how he felt. Instead, he had just teased her again. He didn't want to lead her along anymore, or make her think that he felt less for her than he did. The timing was just…not right. Gajeel heaved a frustrated sigh, raking his fingers through his tousled hair.

"Then what is the right time?" he demanded; but the darkness in his tent did not answer him.

To make things worse, a few moments ago when he had left her alone, he had lingered outside for a bit – looking for answers in the starry sky above. That had proved to be a mistake, for not a minute later, movement inside Levy's tent drew his attention. He was pleased enough to bear witness to her silhouette undressing, her lamp casting alluring shadows on the fabric of her tent. But the last thing he needed was something else to draw out those lustful feelings that he barely kept at bay every waking moment. It was like the universe was laughing at his misery, dangling the proverbial carrot in front of his face. He had gone inside his tent and prepared for sleep; but it never came, and now he was just lying here, staring up at the centerline of his tent.

His thoughts strayed from Levy to what he had learned tonight about the dragons; it was a lot to take in at once. His dragon and three others were the only dragons left on earth – besides Acnologia – and they had chosen to teach Dragon Slayer magic to himself, Natsu, Wendy, and one other. And how did the Black Dragon fit into all this? Was he a part of the evil brewing among the dragons that the King spoke of? Were there more dragons like him? On the one hand, a lot of questions had just been answered, but so many still remained. Why did all the dragons leave on July 7th, 777? Had the water dragon also left? Where was her human child? When would the dragons return to fight with humans again? Did they care that Zeref was going to destroy everything? If he was one of only four Dragon Slayers, what was their burden going to be in the fight to come? This was beginning to get overwhelming, even for him. Normally, he wouldn't stop to ask himself the big questions. What happened would happen, and he'd be there to fight whatever evil threatened him and – he begrudgingly had to admit – his guild. But this seemed so much bigger than him. Granted, he had Natsu and Wendy, and the rest of Fairy Tail…but what evil was descending on them that would cause even the dragons to fight?

He had lots of questions this time, but no answers. He sighed again, and rolled over onto his side seeking sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, and he needed to be ready for the following night. He and the other archaeologists would spread word of the discovery of the strange device, and leak news of it being held in the old shed. He would place a guard there, as before, but keep secret the fact that Pantherlily would be inside. If there was no attempt to steal the artifact, then that would narrow down the possibilities of who the inside man was. If only Henry and James knew the truth about the surprise waiting inside the shed, then it would mean the informant was probably one of them. Granted, the evidence would be circumstantial, so to speak, but it would be enough for him to go on. His money was on James – the guy was way too suspicious. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was trying to put the moves on Levy. Nothing at all, Gajeel told himself as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>Gajeel took over Lily's patrol around three in the morning and kept watch over the ruins from his spot on the hill until daybreak. When the workers began to stir, he went down to meet with Henry and James. Pantherlily joined him as they once again laid out their plan for them.<p>

"Once the news is spread, anyone who would be keeping surveillance on the camp is bound to hear about it," Gajeel told them.

"Do you think they'll take the bait?"

"They've taken the artifacts every time before, right?"

"Yes."

"And always on the very first night we had them," Henry added.

"That reminds me…where did you keep it last night after we gave it to you?"

"Actually, I slept with it," he replied, sounding almost embarrassed.

"No, that was a good idea."

"Yeah, I woke up this morning to find Dad cuddling this stone cylinder like a teddy bear," James said, snickering. "Do you think it's strange that the thieves didn't try to recover it last night?"

"Why?" Gajeel asked. "We only discovered it late last night and the only people who knew about it were myself, Levy, the cook and her husband, and your dad. There's no way they could find out about it unless they were right in the camp with us."

"In which case, Gajeel and I would have sniffed them out," Pantherlily added.

"Unless you think it was an inside job, of course," Gajeel said, looking pointedly at James.

"I doubt that – the thieves just must be watching us closely is all," James said; Gajeel thought he looked nervous. "But back up, what do you mean 'Gajeel and I would have sniffed them out'? Are you saying he can track things like an animal?" James asked Lily.

"Actually, Gajeel's nose is even more sensitive than mine," the cat admitted. "His sense of smell is ten times more powerful than any bloodhound's."

James gulped visibly, "Is that so?"

"So, if for some reason the thieves get past Lily tonight – not that I think they will – you can track them down?" Henry asked Gajeel.

"Of course, the scent trail will be fresh and I'll be waiting. But they won't get past Lily. They would have to be one powerful mage to even have a prayer of standing up to him," Gajeel said, the pride in his voice obvious.

Pantherlily blushed a little, but offered him a sly smile, "Gajeel will run the perimeter as always or stand watch by the ruins. Either way, they will have a clear shot to the shed. We _want _to draw them in."

"Of course," said James, who seemed to suddenly be deep in thought.

Gajeel could smell fear on him plain as day, and his suspicions took deeper root. Lily seemed to be having similar thoughts, for he eyed the young man closely.

"Well, I suppose we had better get to work, and let everyone know about our discovery. Come James," Henry said, heading for the breakfast line that was beginning to form.

Once they were out of earshot, Lily jumped up and sat on Gajeel's shoulder, "That guy is just too damn suspicious."

"I know," Gajeel agreed. "I'll stay close to the ruins tonight, so that I don't spook him too much. He'll think I'm too far away to do anything if he tries it. But with him knowing you're there, I can't see him making a move tonight."

"Yes, but who's to say he's actually going to be there himself? He could just let the real thieves know where to go and when – and that may be all the part he plays."

"That's true, but either way, if no one comes tonight it's probably because he tipped them off. Just to be sure though, why don't you tail him today? If he makes any attempt to contact someone outside of the camp, then we'll know what he's up to. Make sure he doesn't see you though," Gajeel added.

Lily rolled his eyes as he jumped to the ground, "Please. What do you take me for?"

Gajeel matched his impish grin, "That's my cat."

"I'll see you later tonight."

"Okay, I'm going to go run patrols. If you run into James at any point, you could let it slip that I'm running the perimeter during the day and watching the ruins tonight. We want him as much at ease as possible," Gajeel added.

"Of course," Lily said, slinking down toward the chow line as stealthily as any wild panther.

Gajeel smirked and headed toward the perimeter to run the trails – it was all coming together. Tonight would tell all.

* * *

><p>Darkness fell early that night. The clouds covered the waning moon totally, and a cold chill crept through the foothills. To add to the overall effect, a thick fog had settled over the lower regions of the encampment, hiding even the plateau from view from the vantage point of the grassy hill above the ruins. Gajeel stretched out on his belly, trying to peer through the mist below him.<p>

The shed was located on the plateau behind the tents, with its backside almost to the tree line. Why anyone would think that was a good place for a shed was beyond him. He had inspected it carefully that afternoon, and prepared it for Pantherlily as best he could. It was a fairly large building, almost a small barn. One sidewall had racks that held all the shovels, pickaxes, and larger ground breaking tools. The opposite wall had shelves with crates that contained the more delicate tools such as brushes and tiny picks, for unearthing the more fragile or detailed parts of the city. Coils of rope, picket posts and various caution signs took their rest on the back wall of the shed. There were also several barrels of blasting powder on the floor, much to Gajeel's surprise. He wouldn't have expected them to risk any kind of demolition in this area, for fear of causing a cave in on the inside of the castle. But they were there, and they did provide good cover for Lily. He took a canvas he found in the shed and arranged it in an empty crate, forming a makeshift bed for Lily. He left a flap of the canvas out of the crate, so that Lily could pull it over himself, completely hiding him from view.

Satisfied that he had prepared it well, he had grabbed a bite to eat before heading to the ruins for watch. Levy had been there as well, and the two of them had enjoyed a short time together. He hadn't seen her all day, and she informed him that they were beginning to explore the upper parts of the castle. She had used her solid script to form wooden supports as they went, to keep the floor from falling in. Now, more people could go up there at one time. They hadn't found much, as there was a lot of rubble blocking off sections of the hallways up there. They had been doing a lot more excavating that day, but she said she liked the hard work. Gajeel thought she looked adorable, covered head to toe in dirt and dust from what they had cleared. He had wiped a little smudge of mud off her cheek as she was munching on a dinner roll, earning him an even cuter blush. They talked for a while more, and then heading off to finish their jobs.

Lily caught him as he was heading back, informing him that he had indeed seen James sneak away from the camp in the early afternoon. He told Gajeel that he had followed James several miles to a small village, about a half an hour run from the ruins. Gajeel had scene the lights from that village before at night, tucked away in a valley in the foothills. Lily told him it was extremely small – really just a clump of houses, a bar, a post office, and a general store. But James had gone into the post office for a few minutes and emerged again, looking frustrated. Gajeel didn't know what that meant, only that he had probably tried to send a message to someone and failed. Whether that message was to inform someone to come get the artifact or to stay away since it was being guarded, Gajeel had no idea. Either way, they were going to carry out everything tonight as planned.

So now, Gajeel was stationed atop the hill, waiting for a signal from Lily that he had caught the thieves. It would only take him less than half a minute to get to the plateau from here at top speed, but he remained tensed to spring into action. Something that James had told him earlier was beginning to nag at him. James had said that the last time they had lost an artifact, that they had been gassed. Now that in itself did not mean that they were dealing with a magic user, a human could just easily get their hands on some airborne knockout agent – but the more he thought about it, the more he began to wonder if a mage was involved in this. Everything about the castle, all the secrets they had discovered, were all pertaining to magic; the history and the origins of magic to be more precise. If the person behind all of this knew what was hidden here, they were probably tied to magic themselves and would most likely use a mage in recovering the information. A simple sleep spell would have been sufficient to put down James and the other workers with the last stolen artifact, but the use of a physical gas suggested a different kind of magician – a potion's master. The mere thought of it caused the hairs on the back of Gajeel's neck to stand up. Conventional magic he could deal with just fine – his strength and hide could protect him from most anything, and his dragon slayer techniques could break almost any defensive spells. But potions were a problem, particularly the airborne kind. Everyone needs to breathe. Metalicana had warned him about potions masters – 'poison benders' he called them. They were often immersed in dark magic and spent their time making up venomous concoctions and becoming immune to them. He told him that the blood of a potion master was often just as poisoned as the brews they used on others. Apparently, the dragon had bitten one such person and almost died as a result. _"Dragons are weak to poison, remember that boy." _Gajeel had never forgotten. The one piece of wisdom that the dragon had given him was that potion masters always carried an antidote with them, just in case. No matter what they used, the cure for it was never far from reach. Metalicana told him that a poison bender's greatest fear was that he himself would die in the same way he had caused others to die.

As he pondered all this, a shout echoed up threw the mist. It was Lily – he had found their prey. Gajeel lunged from his place and charged down the hill, the fog around him swirling wildly in his wake. He burst into the clear strip of land between the woods and the tents, almost barreling into Lily when the cat suddenly came into view. Pantherlily was in battle mode now, standing taller and bigger than Gajeel, his immense muscles rippling under his dark fur. His teeth were bared, revealing two rows of razor sharp canines, every one. Gajeel paused for a second, stilled by the sheer awesomeness of his cat. He recovered and followed Lily's gaze, which was directed at a body curled on the ground, groaning in pain. The person slowly stretched himself out of the fetal position, rolling onto his back. It was James. Gajeel thought that having his suspicions confirmed would feel good – instead he felt an all new loathing for this man. He bent down, grabbing the front of James' shirt and hauled him to his feet.

"What the hell, James?" he ground out between his teeth.

The terrified man was entirely focused on Pantherlily though; Gajeel thought he was going to pee his pants any second now. He seemed utterly unable to speak. A few workers had come out of their tents, roused by Lily's feral battle cry. He shook James until the man turned his attention to him.

"It's not what it looks like," he said, finally able to form words.

"Oh, it's not?" Lily countered. "I heard you and another person outside the shed, you knocked out the guard!"

Gajeel had almost forgotten about the poor guy guarding the door. Sure enough, he could just see the guy's feet on the other side of the shed. He tightened his grip, raising his arm so that James' feet barely touched the ground.

"Are you insane? You knew Lily was in there and you still tried to take it?"

The expression on the man's face changed from fear to anger as he glared at Gajeel, "I didn't try to take the artifact, you buffoon. Get your hands off me!"

He struggled, but Gajeel held him firmly. He managed to land a solid kick between Gajeel's legs, but the Dragon Slayer had seen it coming and hardened his skin into cold blue scales. Even so, the fact that the little bastard had tried to kick him in the nuts _really _pissed him off – and armor or no – it kind of smarted. Furious, he lowered James to the ground and punched him square in the jaw, sending the man reeling backwards and stumbling to the ground. Gajeel was somewhat surprised that he remained conscious; maybe he was tougher than he gave him credit for. No matter, he wasn't finished by a long shot. He reached for James again, his intent written all over his face. Two things happened at that very moment. Gajeel stopped dead in his tracks when he heard Levy call his name. He froze mid grab and turned his head toward her, just as another woman pushed through the other workers who had gathered around them.

"Stop!" she called; maneuvering herself between Gajeel and James. "He's not lying, he really wasn't there to steal anything."

Gajeel stared her down, "Then how do you explain him knocking out the guard?"

"And trying to get into the shed when he knew I was there," Lily added.

"He didn't try to get into the shed…I did," she admitted.

"Wait, _you _wanted to steal the artifact?" Gajeel asked, totally confused. He let his scales melt back down into normal skin, eyeing her warily.

"No, I didn't even know the artifact was in there – I've been gone for the last two days," she explained. "James was the one who stopped me from going in there."

"Okay," Gajeel said, still keeping the girl pinned under his stare. "Then do you mind explaining why you were trying to get into the shed in the first place? And why the hell did James have to stop you from going in when the guard could have done the same thing?"

"Yes, and what was James doing here in the first place, knocking out the damn guard?" Pantherlily half shouted, bringing Gajeel's attention back on James.

"Yes son, please do explain yourself," Henry said bitterly, emerging from the crowd of workers – the whole camp must have gathered at the commotion by now.

James let out a defeated sigh and stood up, positioning himself behind the curious woman that had defended him, "Because I came here to meet her. She told me yesterday that she'd be back late tonight and we agreed to meet here outside the camp. That was _before _I knew about the artifact. When I found out this morning that we had found another piece and were going to stage an ambush here tonight, I tried to get word to her not to come to the shed. But I couldn't reach her."

"I got here about ten minutes ago and tried to go in, but James stopped me and told me to go to my tent," she girl explained.

"Then that…thing…came out of the shed and attacked me," James said, pointing at Lily.

Gajeel moved to grab him again, but Lily put a paw on his shoulder and held him still, saying, "Again. Why did you _knock out _the guard?"

"I didn't want him to see Karin," James said, gesturing at the girl and acting as if that explained everything.

"So let me get this straight," Gajeel said, folding his arms in front of him and putting on his most intimidating expression. "You agreed to come here and rendezvous here with your – girlfriend – and "meet" at this _shed_. And to keep this little "encounter" secret, you knocked out the guard."

Murmurs and the occasional snicker whispered through the crowd of workers. Henry merely shook his head, clearly embarrassed and disappointed by his son's behavior.

"Why didn't you just let her discover the guard on own? If there was someone there, I'm sure she would have gotten the picture and left," Lily said.

"I didn't want her to be seen."

"You mean, you still wanted to "meet" with her tonight," Gajeel said, making quotations with his fingers for emphasis. "You knocked out the guard so he wouldn't see anything and told her to go back to her tent because you were planning on following her. You just didn't count on Lily coming after you."

"I thought the plan was that once someone was _inside _the shed, you came after him," James said accusingly to the huge cat.

"Don't you dare blame him for any of this," Gajeel hissed. "Because of your perpetual skirt chasing, this whole operation got blown! Not only did you spring the trap; now we're not any closer in discovering who the real thieves are. They won't try to come after the shed once they get word that he's waiting for them," he said, gesturing to Pantherlily with his chin.

At that, Lily shrank down to his normal size, "We need to regroup and come up with a new plan. There's nothing more we can do tonight. Let's all go back to our respective tents," he paused to glare at James, "and call it a night."

James and Karin took their queue and split up, breaking through the already dispersing group of onlookers. Henry followed James to their tent; no doubt he was going to give his son an earful. The workers thinned quickly, all but disappearing in a matter of moments. Someone stopped to pick up the poor unconscious guard and take him back to his tent. Lily disappeared into the shed and grabbed the stone cylinder – no one was going to bother it tonight, not after all the ruckus. Gajeel turned to head toward their tent when he saw Levy standing in front of him. She didn't look all that pleased.

"Levy," he began, walking to towards her.

"You went overboard, and you know it," she said flatly, then turned to leave.

He stared after her, more than a little surprised at her sharp words. Maybe he had gotten it wrong about James, but she couldn't possibly blame him for making the assumption he did. He called after her to wait, but a little paw on his leg stopped him.

"Don't. I'll talk to her," Lily said.

"I don't understand why she's mad at me…again," his thoughts turning back to their earlier misunderstanding back at Fairy Tail.

"She doesn't either. But it's clear she doesn't want to talk to you right now. She may listen to me though. Why don't you finish up watch by the ruins and I'll relieve you in an hour. Take this," he said, handing him the cylinder.

Gajeel sighed, balling his hands into fists, "Fine. I'll see you later."

He wasn't mad at Lily, but he was still frustrated about this entire situation. First the blown ambush, then James, now Levy was mad at him too. He stalked off into the night, wishing he could be knocking some heads right now instead of keeping watch.

* * *

><p>Levy took off her jacket and crawled under the blankets of her tent once more, shivering against the cold night air that seemed to seep into her bones. She was mad at Gajeel for how he handled James and even more mad at herself for how she handled Gajeel. She knew she should have explained herself, but she wasn't quite sure why she was so angry to begin with. The look on Gajeel's face right before he punched James had frightened her. She'd seen that look before. He was livid, and that face scared her. He was unpredictable when he was that angry; there was no telling what he would do. It reminded her of the day he had saved her from Grimoire Heart. But that wasn't quite right – because she had been glad to see that look on his face then. He had been enraged because she was being threatened. No, maybe it didn't remind her of that. Maybe it reminded her of the night he attacked her, the very first night they met. She tried to shut out those memories, closing her eyes against the pain. Why was this coming up now? A sound outside her tent brought her back to present.<p>

"May I come in?" It was Pantherlily.

"Yes, come in Lily," she invited.

No matter how upset she was, she always welcomed the little feline's company. He undid the lower clasp of her tent and crawled in, buttoning it back up behind him. Without a word, he padded across her blankets and curled up on her lap, warming her more than the fleece covers. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him close, burying her face in the soft fur on his back.

"I think I messed up tonight," she admitted, her voice muffled by his coat.

"Perhaps, but many of us made mistakes tonight – not without just cause," he added.

"Yeah, everything that happened was really suspicious. I don't blame you for thinking it was James."

"Yes, but you blame Gajeel for hitting him?"

"He didn't have to do that. He hated James from the first moment he saw him…I don't know why. It's like he wanted James to be the one so he'd have a chance to beat him up. He didn't even let James explain himself."

"It's true, he hasn't been fond of the man since he first met him – but he had his reasons for that as well."

"Tell me Lily. What happened between them?" she asked, lifting her head from his fur to look at him.

"Nothing really 'happened' per se…but Gajeel picked up on something the very first night we came her that set him off."

"What?" she encouraged.

"He sensed that James took an instant liking to you, and he didn't approve."

"What's wrong with other people liking me? Lucy likes me, and he doesn't pick fights with her."

Pantherlily sighed and patted her hand, "No child. He doesn't care if other people like you…only if their attention reflects a more – intimate – nature."

"Wait. You mean…he was jealous?"

He nodded at her. That opened up a whole separate train of thought to her. If he was jealous of another guy, then he really must like her a lot, right? Levy had a hard time picturing Gajeel jealous of anyone. It just didn't seem to fit his personality at all. What did he have to be jealous about? It's not like James was able to even really flirt with her with his dad and the twins there. But then again, Gajeel didn't know that. They had been separated most of this trip. It must have been killing him not knowing what was going on down in the lower levels of the castle all day long. Still, just because he was jealous of the guy, didn't give him an excuse to deck him – at least, not before he heard him out anyway. She told Lily as much.

"James had it coming, he shouldn't have tried to kick Gajeel in the…he shouldn't have tried to kick him," the cat corrected himself.

"Wait, James tried to kick him?"

"You didn't see? Actually, James _did _kick him – but Gajeel put up his armor before he could do any damage."

"Oh, I thought he put it up so that he could punch him harder. Did he really need to armor up to protect himself from a human kick? It doesn't seem like James is strong enough to really hurt him."

Lily fought a blush and explained a little further, "Yes, but even Gajeel needs to protect certain…parts…of his body."

Levy thought about that a moment, then her eyes widened in understanding, "You mean James tried to kick him…there?"

She was blushing furiously.

"Yes. Gajeel may have a short temper already – but any man is likely to get very angry when another man decides to play that card."

Levy nodded her head in understanding, "I get it."

"Gajeel punched him because of that – no other reason."

"I guess I really owe him an apology."

"Just tell him in the morning. For now, you should get some rest. It's late," he said, yawning.

Lily stretched and jumped down from her lap, stopping to pat her leg affectionately.

"Thanks for telling me everything, Lily," Levy said, smiling at him.

"Of course," he replied, pausing as he reached for the flap of the tent. "Gajeel cares for you very much, Levy. I know that if you give him time, he'll find the words to tell you just how much. Be patient with him?"

Levy nodded her head, "I will, I promise. I wasn't completely sure before – but hearing it from you makes me feel better."

"He's a good man, despite all his flaws. Once you earn his affection, you'll have it for as long as he draws breath…believe me."

"Do you think he…loves me?" she asked, unable to look him in the eye when she finished.

He chuckled low in his throat, "Oh, if you only knew how much."

Levy managed to raise her eyes, not even bothering to try and mask the hope and happiness behind them upon hearing those long awaited words.

"I do too," she whispered.

"I know sweetheart, I know. You'll hear it from his own lips soon enough – I'm sure."

She beamed at him, reaching forward to scoop him up in a tight hug. He hugged her back, petting her cheek with his paw. It seemed he liked patting her almost as much as Gajeel did.

"Thank you so much, Lily…for everything. I love you," she said, squeezing him for emphasis and planting a little kiss on the top of his head.

He purred against her shoulder, "I love you too."

She released him and he once again made his way to her tent flap.

"See you in the morning," she said.

"Yes. Goodnight."

"Night."

Levy sank back down beneath the covers.

"He loves me," she quietly told the darkness.

There was really nothing more to say. She thought that she would have a tumult of emotions and thoughts spinning through her head; but instead, she felt only peace and contentment. Knowing that he did love her in the same way that she loved him stripped away all other reflections, leaving her with a strange sense of serenity. It was just her and that one piece of knowledge now. Somehow, it made her whole world complete. She didn't even wonder when he was going to tell her, or what she would say to him when he did. Instead, she fell asleep almost immediately, Lily's words echoing in her dreams, _"Oh, if you only knew how much." _

__**K.K.: Okay, I'm sorry this chapter took me soooo long to write - it's been a crazy couple weeks. Anyways, what do you think? It's not James. Surprised? The next chapter is going to reveal a LOT though - trust me (your kiss is coming soon angelovergirl) ;) I shall write it after Thanksgiving, so you don't have to wait too long. Anyways, review as always. I want to thank you all for making this my most reviewed story! I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving. Love to all!  
><strong>


	8. Time

Dragon Script

Chapter 8: Time

Gajeel stirred and cracked his eyes open, wincing at the bright sunlight pouring through the thin walls of his tent. He yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyelashes, still a bit tired from the night before. He had stayed on watch for another few hours before Lily had come to relieve him. His cat had assured him that he had explained the situation to Levy and that she understood now – but did not elaborate on what exactly he had said to make her understand. Gajeel had accepted the news without questioning him further; it had been an exhausting day, and he really didn't feel the need to interrogate Lily. Levy wasn't mad at him anymore…that was enough. Now that he didn't have to worry about that, he could turn his attention to formulating a new plan to capture the thieves. He sighed as he got up and put his clothes on. It was too early to think about this crap; couldn't he just enjoy the first hour of his day before having to plan? He hated planning - he was a man of action. Planning sucked.

He grabbed the cinnamon toothpaste that Lily had talked him into buying and spread it on his toothbrush. He had to admit, he did like the spicy taste better that his old stuff. Picking up his water bottle, he stepped outside their tent. A quick glance to his right stopped him dead in his tracks. Levy stood outside her tent, similarly occupied with her own dental hygiene. She grinned at him from around her brush and managed to splutter a "good morning". He nodded his head at her a little awkwardly, not venturing to attempt words with his mouth full of toothpaste suds. She turned to spit and rinse out her mouth and he quickly did the same, throwing his water bottle and brush back into the tent. When he turned back to face her, she was approaching him. He could see the pink tint in her cheeks when she finally looked him in the face.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out suddenly. "I had no right to accuse you of going overboard last night – I didn't see everything and I jumped to the wrong conclusion."

"It's okay, it happens," he replied. "What was it that made you so mad though?" he asked carefully.

"Well, when I saw you punch him – I thought it was because you didn't like him. I know it looked bad with him there at the shed and all, but I didn't think it was fair that you hit him before he could explain himself. I didn't see him…kick you."

Suddenly, Gajeel felt a little embarrassed himself, though he really wasn't sure why.

"Yeah, I guess I got a little pissed at him after he did that. But you're right, I should have kept myself in check."

"It's okay, I understand."

"So you forgive me?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Only if you forgive me for jumping to conclusions," she said in a small voice, looking down.

"Hey, there's nothing to forgive. C'mon, let's get out here," he said suddenly.

"Oh…okay. Where?" she asked, looking up at him with curious hazel eyes.

"Lily and I found this spot when we were patrolling. I've wanted to show it to you for a while, but we've both been too busy. Were you planning on heading back to the ruins now?"

"No, I was going to take it easy this morning. I doubt anyone's going to go there early anyways, after what happened last night."

"Good, c'mon then," he said, turning to head into the woods.

"'Kay," she said with a happy smile on her face.

Gajeel thought she looked liked an angel in the morning sunlight. She followed him down the thin trail that he and Lily had worn into the forest. Some areas on the path were steep as they made their way up the side slope of the mountain. He helped her climb a particularly sheer place and all at once, they had arrived. He fought back a smile when he saw her eyes light up at the sight before her.

Nestled into the side of the slope was a small plateau, perhaps twenty feet across and ten feet deep. A mountain stream had cut its way down through the sharp flat rocks above them and trickled down their face onto the plateau, before it gradually descended into the foothills below them. The moisture here had caused a thick blanket of moss and green grass to grow at their feet and some wildflowers had taken advantage of the gap in the trees to grow freely. Levy knelt down to inspect a little blue butterfly that clung to the blossoms of one of the flowers.

"This place is incredible," she whispered.

"I thought you might like it," he said, stooping to pluck a pink flower.

She stood up and turned to him, looking a little embarrassed as she rubbed her arm, "Thank you for bringing me here, Gajeel."

"You're welcome," he said softly.

He gathered his courage, tucking the flower into her hair behind her ear. He wasn't good at stuff like this at all, but it just seemed right to put it there. She tilted her head a little to the side and his fingers brushed against her cheek and temple. His heart almost stopped at the sight of her gently smiling up at him from under thick lashes. Here they were, alone on the side of a mountain, in probably the most romantic place he had ever laid eyes on. What the hell was he waiting for?

"_Just do it Gajeel," _he told himself. _"Tell her." _

The words stuck in his throat, he couldn't get them out no matter how much he tried; but her beauty was mesmerizing. His hand was still on her cheek and he was making no effort to remove it. Instead he let his fingers slide down a little so that they cupped her neck beneath her hair. His thumb brushed at her jaw gently as he stared at her. Maybe he could still tell her how he felt even if the words never came. He suddenly realized that he had been slowly leaning towards her this whole time, and now only a few inches separated their faces.

Neither of them really knew who kissed whom first. It was as if they had arrived at the same conclusion at the same moment and just met in the middle. All Gajeel knew was that she had the softest, most perfect lips in the world – and they were molded to his. He kissed her very slowly, afraid that one wrong move might shatter the moment. She responded to him, pushing herself up on her tip toes and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Her hands tangled into his hair and he breathed in sharply, pulling her tight against him, deepening the kiss. She tasted clean and fresh, and a little like mint – probably the toothpaste. He refrained from tasting her with his tongue yet; instead he sucked on her lower lip, careful not to pull it too close to his teeth. She replied with a small contented sound in her throat. He released her lip and grinned against her mouth, remembering his vow to make her make that sound. He hadn't really expected to accomplish that goal so soon, but he was certainly not complaining. She nibbled at his lower lip, pulling him back into their kiss.

He wasn't sure how long he held her there; it could have been hours, it could have been seconds. When he drew away, they were both flushed and breathless. Levy beamed up at him before nestling her head on his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. He ran his fingers through her hair, content to hold her for as long as she wished it. Despite their height difference, she seemed to fit against him perfectly. He loved the feel of her tiny frame against his, and he longed to run his hands over every contour of her body. He reigned in his desires and focused on her soft azure hair as it slipped between his fingers. Her hands moved from his back to his chest as she lifted her face up to his again. He smiled down at her as she rubbed little circles against his chest with her thumbs, driving him half mad.

"So does this make me your girlfriend?" she asked innocently.

He chuckled, his voice low and husky from their activities, "If that's what you really want."

She nodded her head to him, "I do."

He caught her chin in his hand and stole a chaste kiss, "That's good, 'cause I've got no intention of letting you go."

She suddenly pulled away from him, catching his hands in hers and holding him at arms length.

"Hey, you know what?" she asked excitedly.

"What?"

"You still haven't taught me hand-to-hand combat."

He stared at her incredulously, "You want me to teach you now?"

She nodded.

"Here?"

"Why not? It'll be fun!" she exclaimed, dropping his hands and stepping back up to him.

He shook his head, this girl never ceased to amaze him. One minute they're making out in the middle of the flowers and the butterflies and all that crap and now she wanted to spar with him. Truly amazing.

"Okay," he said, chuckling again. "If that's what you want."

"What do I learn first?"

"Well, we need to start with the basics. The first step in avoiding a hand-to-hand attack is simple – get out of its way. So if I'm standing across from you like this," he said, stepping back and putting a few feet of distance between them, "…and I take a punch at you, like this," he punched slowly straight toward her center, "…you need to get off the line."

She stepped to the side, away from him.

"Good. You did the right thing. Not only did you get off the line, but you stepped to the outside instead of the inside. If you had gotten out of the way, but stepped in front of me, I could have just punched you with my other hand or kicked you. You always want to avoid the hot zone. This," he said, gesturing to the front of his body, "is the hot zone."

Levy giggled.

"That's not what I meant. I mean it's a dangerous place to be."

She burst into peels of laughter.

"I can't teach you like this," he complained, trying hard not to laugh too.

"I'm sorry," she said between giggles. "I'm listening, keep going."

He sighed, "Okay. I'm going to teach you a few methods for getting out of various grabs and holds. We're gonna take it slow, it's more important for you to learn the technique properly first before putting real power into it. First, I'll have you grab me and I'll show you the technique, and then you can do it to me."

"Okay," Levy said, putting her serious face on. "I'm ready."

"The first one is a one handed grab to the wrist," he said, holding out his arm in front of him as she reached out and captured his wrist. "Now assuming you got a good hold, I can't move forward or backwards this way – because you have my elbow locked. So instead, I drop my wrist down, push my elbow forward over your arm, step in, and pivot my feet so that I'm beside you now. Now, my arms are in front of me, palms up and your hold is weakened because your wrist is being wrenched. Now all I have to do is raise my arms up and extend them forward – sliding forward to pull you off balance – and you will step forward with your outside foot and roll over your outside shoulder."

He completed the move slowly, and she rolled perfectly in the soft cushion of the moss.

"Exactly; now one more, faster. I'm going to put a little more force into this so you can feel how it really works, okay?"

She nodded and he repeated the move, throwing her a little further this time.

"Good, your turn."

She reproduced the technique perfectly for a beginner, pausing only to make sure her feet were correct. Satisfied, Gajeel moved on.

"Next is a two hand grab. Grab me with your front hand above the other. Good. Now here, you have even more strength. I can't move forward like I did before because of your hold on my upper arm. So now, I step in, drop my elbow to the _side_ and pivot next to you. Now I raise my arms with my hands palm out in front of my center, pulling you off balance. Feel that? From here, I take my inside foot and step back behind you and bring my arms around so that my arm connects with your collarbone – or face if I was really trying to hurt you. You fall backwards because you are basically tripping over the leg I put behind you. You would probably still fall even if it wasn't behind you since I'm pushing against the top of your body. The leg is just there to _make sure _you fall on your back. Again."

They repeated the technique two more times before it was Levy's turn. She had to put more distance between them to pull him off center due to his greater height, but as soon as she discovered what she needed to do to take his balance, she completed the movement. Gajeel was impressed by how quickly she caught on to what he was teaching her.

"Okay, the next one is important. I want you to take a stance and punch at me with your back hand. Go ahead."

She stepped forward to close the gap and punched at his center. He stepped off the line and pivoted so he was next to her again, pulling his arms up to keep them free.

"Always get off the line _first_. If you are thinking too much about the technique and don't move fast enough, it won't matter if you remember what to do or not, 'cause you just got hit. So I raised my arms out of the way and now we're facing the same direction again. Next I bring my inside hand down over your fist, with my thumb right between your middle and ring knuckle. I'm gonna bring my other hand under to sandwich your hand to make sure you don't get out of it. I don't have to do that, but I want you to learn it this way first. So now I'm going to pull you forward, so that you're off balance and my hands are in front of my center, which is where they should be. And now I step back and pull your arms backwards, still pulling you off balance. You're going to fall on your back again because if you don't, your arm will snap."

He completed the move slowly and she once again fell where she was supposed to.

"Very good. Again."

She did it to him a few times and performed the technique fairly well – though taking his balance proved difficult for her.

"Okay, one more new one and then we'll review them all and call it quits. I want you to learn these well. The last one is how to get out of a choke hold from behind. So step behind me and wrap your front arm around my throat and use your free hand to grab the wrist that's in front of it."

He felt her strain to reach around his neck, so he bent his knees a little so she could reach.

"Okay, so I'm going to grab your wrist that's around my neck with my free hand and lift up so I can duck out under the arm that's choking me. Now as I turn towards you, the hand that you've got a hold of will come up and follow me. As it does, your wrist will be wrenched and you'll have to let go, but before you do, I'm already going to have it in a hold. See how that happened? Now your arms are crossed and the first wrist that I grabbed is being pushed down while the second one I caught is being pushed up. My thumb is pointing up on the arm that I'm pushing up and my other thumb is pointing down on the arm I'm pushing down. All I have to do is step in beside you and push and pull on your arms at the same time. And then you're going to flip over on your back and fall before your arms break. I'll let go of your inside wrist and you can use that to slap the ground as you fall to keep from injuring yourself."

Once again, they repeated the movements and then she attempted to do them. Getting out from under his arm proved a little easier for her, since she was already small enough to wriggle out.

They worked on each of the four techniques she learned and drilled them until Gajeel was satisfied that she really knew them. The hot sunshine and exercise had worked them both into a sweat, and they both took long drinks from the trickling stream.

Levy stood and wiped the sweat off her forehead, smiling a contented smile. Gajeel grinned at her.

"Hey Levy, pop quiz – how do you get out of this one?" he said, lunging at her and picking her completely off the ground. He held her tight against him, one arm across her upper legs and the other around the small of her back. He lifted his face to look up at her, resisting the temptation to bury it in the bosom currently pressed up against his throat. She giggled and pulled her arms free, running them through his thick black hair.

"You know, I don't think I really _want _to get out of this one," she said leaning down and kissing his forehead.

She licked her lips and made a face, "Eww, salty."

He captured her mouth, venturing to run his tongue over her lower lip.

"Mmm, salty," he mumbled into the kiss.

He felt her smile against him and kissed him back, just as deeply. This kiss was more passionate, and left them both breathless far more quickly than the last one. When Gajeel felt his control beginning to slip, he broke away – staring at her bruised and swollen lips longingly. He needed to let her go before he did something he regretted. He slowly set her down, trying to ignore the slightly disappointed look on her face. Unable to resist, he gave her bottom a little squeeze before backing away, smirking at her indignant cry of protest. The look on her face told him she really didn't mind _that _much.

"C'mon, we should head back," he said, trying to keep the obvious reluctance in his voice to a minimum.

"Yeah, you're right," she replied, matching his tone.

He smiled at her and grabbed her hand, planting a little kiss on her hair, "We have all the time in the world," he whispered.

She beamed up at him, her beauty making his stomach do a little flip-flop, "Yes, we do. And it only gets better from here."

He grinned and nodded, gently tugging her in the direction they had come from. They walked back to the camp, emerging onto the plateau from the same trail they had left from. Pantherlily was walking towards them with a bowl of stew in his paws, signifying lunch had begun. He stopped when he noticed them, giving them both a slow once over. Gajeel was suddenly aware of their appearance: a man and woman emerging from the woods – sweaty, disheveled, and flushed – and Levy's lips were still swollen. Lily sniffed a little and nodded to himself, filling in the blanks. He made a little "Mmmhmm" sound, as if confirming something, and disappeared into their tent. Levy glanced at Gajeel with a little sheepish look on her face.

"Maybe you should go tell him this is not what it looks like."

"Well I don't think he's upset – he's probably doing a little victory dance in there," Gajeel grunted.

Levy giggled at that image, "Well, either way, lunch is on. I think I'm going to – uh – freshen up a little before heading over. You?"

"Yeah, I think I'll change and walk over with you. Um, Levy?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we keeping this…um…to ourselves?"

"Well, I don't think we should start making out in front of everyone here – that would be a little unprofessional. But it's not a secret as far as I'm concerned. Let them draw their own conclusions and if they ask, then tell them we're together."

"Okay, that sounds good," he agreed.

"Seeya in a few minutes," she said, disappearing into her tent.

Gajeel ran a hand through his hair. This was so…different. He'd never been in a relationship before. There were a lot of things to consider and think about. But first things first – tell Lily the truth. He ducked into the tent to find his cat perched on a bedroll lapping up stew straight from the bowl.

"It's not what you think," he blurted out.

Lily paused and looked up from the bowl, licking gravy off his chin, "I was born at night Gajeel…it was not _last _night."

He sighed, slumping down on his belly on the bedroll, "I just meant that yes, we are together – but no, we did not…you know."

"Stop right there. Gajeel, I'm your partner and we are very close and I appreciate that greatly. However, you are a grown man and Levy is a…semi-grown…woman."

Gajeel snorted at the short joke.

"I do not need to know what you do or don't do with your woman. While I am glad you did not go from being friends to sleeping together in a matter of hours – it really doesn't concern me."

"Okay, I just wanted you to know. I know what it must have looked like."

"Indeed. If I may ask – how did you two come to look like that?"

"She wanted to spar hand-to-hand, since I never got to teach her that before she left."

"Aha," the panther cat nodded knowingly. "And one thing led to another."

"More or less."

Lily smiled at him, "Well done. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks. Listen, I'm headed off to lunch," Gajeel said, pulling off his clothes and digging around for a fresh pair. "Do you want anything else?"

"No, I'm fine. After lunch, we need to figure out a new plan to get these guys though," Lily said, a little menace in his voice.

"Yeah, I know. I'll make it quick and meet you back here."

"Take your time – we've got plenty of it now."

"Yeah," Gajeel agreed, smiling as he thought back to his earlier words to Levy.

"Seeya in a bit," he said, ducking out of the tent.

**K.K.: Okay, I sincerely apologize for how long this took me. I spent over a month away from home over the holidays visiting family, and really couldn't** **find time to write. But I'm back home now, and things have settled down, so I can update regularly now. Yay! Okay, so this was not actually how I was going to write this chapter at all. But I decided to basically have a chapter fully devoted to Gajeel and Levy and pretty much ignore the Dragon crisis for now. They deserved some alone time. Next chapter will have more exciting stuff in it and all that. So please, tell me what you think. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and now that I don't have the inevitable "kiss" weighing me down - I can move on with my life. LOL. ****Reviews! I love them! And I love all of you! **

**P.S. I changed the rating to T just to be on the safe side. I'm not making this a lemon or anything - but there are some "suggestive themes" I wanted to cover. That's all. ^_^  
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	9. Collapse

Dragon Script

Chapter 9: Collapse

Levy fell into step beside Gajeel, the by now familiar flutter in her stomach returning. She glanced up at him as they wove their way through the throng of tents toward the clearing where everyone ate. His expression suggested he was as pleased as she was – in fact, she couldn't recall a time when he looked so happy. An odd feeling of satisfaction settled on her. She made him happy.

They arrived at the open picnic area where Leah was still serving stew to the workers. Some of them had been working on the lower walls below the castle, but most showed no evidence of having labored that morning.

"Good morning Leah…or, I guess it's really afternoon now," Levy greeted the older woman.

Leah smiled at her, "Hello, you two. The day does seem to be getting away from us, doesn't it? Perhaps it's for the better if we all took it easy for a bit."

"Where you there last night?" Levy asked her, dropping her voice slightly.

Leah's expression darkened as she ladled stew into Levy's bowl, "Yes, I was there – our tent is quite close to the shed. We heard Pantherlily and came to investigate. Even though it all turned out to be a mistake, I can't really say I'm surprised."

"About what?" Gajeel asked, his mood now sour.

"James has always had a single track mind. Although why he chose that dirty old shed to meet her, I have no idea."

Levy shuddered, "Gross."

"I am sorry that your plan was spoiled, Gajeel," Leah offered.

"We'll figure something else out," he growled.

"We promise, we will find the people who have been stealing from the site," Levy assured her, trying to sound optimistic.

"I know you will. Do you want a big bowl, hun?" Leah asked Gajeel.

He managed a small smile, "Yeah, I'm starving."

As she was handing him his lunch, Nero bounded up to them and pulled Levy into a bear hug. She gasped for breath as he squeezed her, then planted a little kiss on her cheek. Levy shot a wary glance at Gajeel, who looked like he was about to smash his bowl of stew over Nero's head at any moment. Fortunately, the next words out of the young man's mouth stayed his hand.

"Thank you so much Levy! Everything that you told me to do with Elaina worked! She and I are dating now, as of this morning!"

Levy grinned at him, "I told you it would work. We're all suckers for a thoughtful boy, right?"

"Mmhmm, your father had me with the first bouquet of flowers he gave me," Leah said with a thoughtful smile on her face. "He wrote a little love poem and tied it to them."

"Dad…_my _father…wrote you poetry?" Nero asked dubiously.

"Yep. And you know what?"

"What?"

"It was awful," she said, laughing. "It barely rhymed, and the stanzas were so cheesy. But he poured his heart into those sappy lines and I loved him for it."

Levy giggled and peeked at Gajeel, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was at that moment.

"Well, anyways – I'm glad everything worked out for you two," she said, patting Nero's arm affectionately. "Where is Elaina anyways?"

"She's getting ready for an excursion into the upper levels. They're gonna head up around 1:30. Do you want to join us…or do you have plans?" he asked, looking sideways at Gajeel as if he had just noticed him.

"No plans, I would love to go. Gajeel and Lily have some new strategies to work on anyway."

"Oh right," he cringed. "Sorry about the mess last night man. By the way," he voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper as he leaned close to Gajeel, "…way to go, decking James like that. I've been wanting to do that for years."

Gajeel grinned at him, his fangs gleaming, "He had it coming."

"Well, I better eat and get my stuff together," Levy said. "Meet you here at quarter after?"

Nero nodded, "Sounds good. Seeya later. Bye Mom," he kissed his mother before heading off.

"Bye honey," she called after him.

"He sure is kissy," Gajeel pointed out.

"Oh c'mon, don't be like that," Levy laughed, elbowing him in the arm.

"Like what? I'm just sayin'."

"Oh, don't worry – he's always been that way. He doesn't mean anything by hugging on your girl," Leah assured him.

Levy hid a smile when Gajeel blushed. "I wasn't worried," he insisted.

She tugged on his arm, "C'mon, stew's getting cold."

He followed her to their usual log and sat down beside her, settling in closer than he usually did.

"Looks like love is in the air today, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so. So how is it that you're giving _him_ love advice?"

"Oh, it came up on one of our lunch breaks when we were translating in the under level. Henry was gone and James was trying to be a little flirty with me. Nero kind of rescued me by asking me what I thought a girl would want to do on her first date. So I told him a few things that might be fun – but they were mostly stuff to go and do in a town. He and Elaina don't really get a chance to leave the camp much though. So I told him to pack a picnic for the two of them and invite her to go on a walk or something and see where they end up. I guess he did it."

"Did he do that a lot?"

"Did who do what a lot?"

"James. Did he flirt with you a lot?"

"You didn't hear a word I said after that, did you?" she asked, smirking at him.

"Yes…picnic, walk, whatever. Did he come on to you?" he asked more forcefully.

Levy sighed and looked down at her feet, "He tried to. But we were working around the clock, and Nero and Kane ran interference constantly. He really didn't get a chance. You don't have to be jealous of him, Gajeel."

"I'm not jealous of him. I just can't stand the thought of him trying to flirt with you – especially after what I saw last night."

"Look, James is a letch…end of story. There're a lot of guys out there like him. Being a girl in Fairy Tail makes you a target for guys like him, so trust me, I'm used to his type. Jet and Drory used to scare off his type all the time."

"Yeah, 'cause it was competition for them."

"No, Jet and Drory may have liked me – but they were always respectful about asking me out…if not a little whiney," she added, giggling. Her face turned thoughtful. "I really need to patch things up with them when we go home."

"I'm sure they'll come around, Lev," he assured her. "Except, they might be a little pissed that we're, uh…dating."

"Yeah," she sighed. "You know what though, it'll work out. I'm not going to hide that we're together when I get back home. I won't rub it in their faces, but I'm not ashamed to be with you and all of Fairy Tail mind as well know that."

There was real conviction in her voice as she said this, and Gajeel graced her with a proud smile. She returned it shyly. She enjoyed it when he did things that showed his approval of her. Before, that was all she had to cling to. A kind word from him, or something that suggested he was paying attention to her. Now, even though she had a whole lot more from him – like his heart – she still soaked up every pleased gesture he gave her. By now her stew was finished though, and she really needed to get a move on if she was going to be ready. She only had fifteen minutes to get back here to meet Nero.

"I need to go get ready," she said apologetically.

"Yeah, I should go back and start on a new set of tactics with Lily," he agreed in a similar tone.

"I wish we had the rest of the day to ourselves," she said quietly.

He leaned in to her, close enough for her to feel his warm breath on her ear, "We've got all the time in the world, remember?"

His lips brushed the top of her ear in a quick kiss, eliciting a tiny blush from her, "I know."

They got up and returned their bowls to Leah, before heading back to their tents. Levy took a deep breath of fresh air – it would be hot and stuffy in the ruins, and she would miss the sunlight pouring down on her. She stopped at her tent and went inside to get her satchel with all the supplies she would need. She almost forgot her magic stylus, which she would need if she had to write more complicated spells than a normal solid script. She grabbed it and threw it in the bag. She turned to crawl back out of the tent, where Gajeel was waiting patiently to say goodbye to her. Except, he apparently decided patience was overrated, and had ducked in after her. She managed to let out a little "eep" before he dragged her down into the blankets on top of him and captured her with a searing kiss. Levy's heart threatened to burst out of her chest as he wrapped his arms around her and turned them both over, careful not to put his full weight on her. His lips were so much softer than she had ever imagined, and when he kissed her, there was nothing in the world but the two of them. Despite his heavy bulk bearing down on her, she felt weightless, as if the softest breeze sifting through the tent's folds would blow them both away. His hands found her wrists and pulled them up over her head, gently pinning her beneath him, as his lips moved to her jaw and then the soft skin of her throat. A tiny moan escaped her lips as he nipped her softly, utterly lost in the feelings washing over her. She couldn't believe that this was happening. The man who she had watched change from a bully to a full fledged Fairy Tail mage, fallen in love with, and dreamed every night of being hers – was lying here in her tent kissing her senseless. She wriggled her arms free of him and tangled her fingers in his hair, gently pushing him back so she could look at his face. He made a little sound of protest at being forced to cease his nibbling of her ear, but complied and pulled back. He stared at her, his crimson eyes burning with a fire completely different from his battle glares.

"You're beautiful," he said, his voice low and gravelly.

Levy blushed up at him, "So are you."

He gave her an odd look, "Handsome, I mean," she corrected.

He chuckled, "It's okay, you don't have to lie."

"I'm not lying!" she protested. "I really do think that. Trust me, I found you attractive from the very beginning. I was just too scared to come around. But you know, it was the way your eyes go soft sometimes – like when you're talking to Lily – and the way your mouth quirks when you find something confusing, that really drew me back to you." She paused and looked up at him a little sheepishly, "And when you grin and your fangs show…I think it's kind of sexy."

She covered her face with her hands in embarrassment for having admitted that, but Gajeel laughed out loud. When she peaked through her fingers, he was grinning at her with both incisors gleaming wickedly.

"Is that so?" he asked, a dangerous lilt in his voice. "You think my fangs are sexy, eh shorty?"

She gasped when he dipped his head back down to her throat, peeling his lips back enough for his fangs to gently run up and down the cords on the side of her neck. It didn't hurt, but his touch left her skin prickling and super sensitive. He licked the spot he had been chaffing, earning him a little squeak of pleasure. He was once again taking over all her senses; it was as if his very touch left her brain dead. She couldn't imagine leaving this spot for hours, but a fleeting thought in the back of her head – the last remnant of sanity perhaps – reminded her that she had somewhere to be…like now.

"Oh, I don't want to go," she told the thought; out loud, she realized belatedly.

"So stay," Gajeel offered, his voice muffled.

"I told Nero I would meet him now. He's probably waiting."

"Yeah, I know," Gajeel sighed. "Alright, you go on. We can pick this up later," he said, winking.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking guilty.

"Hey, stop. I started it knowing we only had a few minutes."

"I know, but…" her voice trailed off.

"Levy, it's okay," he assured her, kissing her forehead. "Go find something cool up there."

"Okay. I'll see you as soon as we get back."

She really wanted to tell him she loved him, but couldn't quite form the words. He knew anyway. He nodded to her and turned to leave the tent, holding the flap open for her to crawl out.

"Bye," she called, as she turned to sprint back to the eating area.

Nero was indeed waiting for her. She skidded to a stop in front of him, panting a little from running. Good grief, she needed to work out.

"Sorry I'm late," she apologized.

"Now worries, it's not like I've been waiting her long. C'mon, let's go."

"Is Elaina already there?"

"Yeah, she left early to grab some tools from the shed."

"Ah."

"Hey Levy?"

"What happened to your neck?" he asked, but there was a little smirk on his face that suggested he already knew.

Levy slapped a self-conscious hand over the spot Gajeel had been nibbling, "Oh please tell me it's not noticeable!"

Nero laughed, "Eh, it's dark in there – no one should be able to see it."

"Crap," she muttered.

"I'm glad he finally made his move though. I thought you two were already together when you first came."

"Really?"

"Yeah, the way he watches you like a guard dog...duh."

Levy smiled at him, "I didn't think it was that obvious."

"I guess that's the funny thing about love – it's obvious to everyone else except the people in it."

She laughed, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Kane suddenly came running up the path behind them, falling into step beside her.

"Hey Levy, glad you could come," he said cheerfully. "What happened to your neck…Gajeel marking his territory?"

Levy threw her hands up in the air, "Ah! That's it, I'm going back for a scarf."

"Wait, here," Kane laughed, reaching into the satchel slung over his shoulder and pulling out a large adhesive bandage. "This should cover it."

Levy gave him a watery-eyed look, "Are you sure?"

He peeled its backing off and slapped it on her neck, "Perfect."

"Thanks. What would I do without you guys?"

"Aw, what'd you do that for – I wanted to tease her about it all afternoon," Nero protested.

"I'm sure you did, but you gotta be more sensitive about a lady's feelings. Believe me, you have to learn a little tact if you're going to be a good boyfriend. You'll understand one day, young grasshopper."

"Okay, just because you've had a girlfriend longer than me doesn't make you the leading expert on all things female related. And if you call me 'grasshopper' one more time, I'm gonna…"

Levy laughed as the two brothers bantered back and forth, enjoying their antics. These two had really made her stay here a lot of fun. Their never ending squabbles and the way they tag-teamed to tease other members of the crew was hysterical. They had both acted like big brothers to her ever since she met them. It was nice to be able to spend time with other guys and not worry about being flirted with. Of course, now that she and Gajeel were officially together, most guys would think twice about trying anything. Nonetheless, there was something endearing about guys who would watch out for you, without having a stake in it. This was how it should be, she decided. Men should be protective of women instead of constantly harassing them. Even if a girl is perfectly capable of defending herself, doesn't mean that boys shouldn't do their part. Maybe the idea was old fashioned and maybe she was spending too much time reading old books – but really, what was wrong with men acting nice to women instead of being lecherous swine?

Her mental soapbox speech was interrupted upon their arrival into the main foyer. She and the twins made their way over to the main staircase, where Elaina and two other men, Ian and Lee, were waiting for them. They had been working hard the last week to build supports and braces under the upstairs hallways so that more people could go up there at a time to remove debris. Everyone picked up a couple tools each and a torch, before carefully making their way up, taking care to space themselves out to take some of the strain off the supports. Levy took point, knowing that if the floor began to give away, she was the best equipped to stop it and get everyone else to safety. It was a daunting task, having people's lives in your hands. But it was exciting too, as the prospect of finally being able to clear into a room began to be a real possibility.

She led them up the stairs and down the right corridor, until they reached a place blocked by debris. The team had made a lot of progress yesterday, and according to some rough blueprint estimations, there should be a room entrance directly behind the rubble. Each worker set their torches into holders they had with them, illuminating a stretch of hallway leading back to where they had come from. Kane moved up beside Levy and the two of them began carefully pulling bits of rock and rubble out of the pile with their tools. The removed debris would then be taken down the hallway little by little by the other workers, until it gradually made its way all the way downstairs. It was not the most efficient way to move rock, but it was the safest in terms of keeping the strain off the flooring. Levy climbed up the heap and began digging closer to the top. It was a tricky job because the rubble might very well be holding up the ceiling here, so she had to work slowly and carefully. But if she was able to clear a hole up top big enough for a person to crawl through, then they could get to the other side and start removing the ruins from both ends, cutting the clearing time in half. Of course, if they could get to the other side today, they would have to do a _little _exploring before going back to work on the rocks.

The rubble at the top of the pile consisted of smaller stones and Levy could tell she was making good progress. Nothing up here seemed to be packed hard, so it couldn't be holding up much. She was able to clear a spot big enough for half her body to get through in less than an hour's time. The loose stones were dusty to move and she had to take short breaks occasionally to give her lungs a rest. She was grateful for the safety glasses Nero had handed her earlier to keep the dust out of her eyes at least.

Levy began to lose track of time. After what felt like hours, she had tunneled her way pretty far into the mound. She began to wonder if perhaps this rubble pile was a lot larger than they had estimated. Just when she was about to crawl back out and suggest they break for dinner, she broke through the other side. She let out a little whoop of triumph and called her success to the others. It only took a couple more minutes to make a hole big enough to crawl through.

"Elaina! Bring a couple torches and come on through," she called back through the little tunnel.

She could see the other woman's face on the opposite side as she went to grab the items she needed. A minute later and she was through. Levy cast a solid script for fire and lit the torches, keeping the script burning to further light up the corridor. It was clear for about twenty five yards before more rubble showed up, but more importantly, there was not one, but two doors in between here and there. They were positioned just past the mound they had come through, as predicted, and lay exactly opposite each other. Levy shared a look with Elaina and they nodded their heads in silent agreement. Choosing the door on the left, they both leaned against it with all their might. Surprisingly, it gave way rather easily, opening up into a vast bedchamber.

Levy held the torch in one hand and brought the solid script past her, positioning it in the middle of the room to maximize on the light output. They did not venture out into the middle of the floor, not knowing whether or not it was stable, but the light revealed that the room was mostly empty. Any wooden furniture had long since decomposed, and the only other stone structure was a raised section in the middle of the room – probably a dais for the bed. There was some pottery in the far right corner in an alcove within the wall, but it was too dusty to make out any patterns they may have had. Even so, the room was incredible to behold, if only for its sheer size.

Scraping sounds behind them alerted them to the arrival of the other four men, who seemed to be having a tougher time getting through Levy's tunnel. She had tried to make it big enough for the guys, but maybe she should have dug it a little wider. They finally made it through and crowded around the entrance of the chamber, forgetting to be cautious about the flooring.

"This is amazing," Kane said, his voice barely above a whisper, but still carrying into the emptiness.

"Look at those jars over there," Ian said pointing to the alcove. "We have got to take a look at those."

"Wait, not until we have some supports under this floor," Kane warned.

"We can calculate where to put them down below if we measure how far down the corridor this room is," Nero added.

"Yeah, but we still don't know how deep the room is," Lee pointed out.

"Or wide. Listen, let me cross the room and take measurements and then we'll know for sure where to put the supports. The weight of one person shouldn't be a problem," Ian suggested.

Levy hesitated, "I'm not sure. But you're probably right; one person shouldn't make a difference. Let me go, I'm the lightest. If it's safe, I'll bring the jars back here."

"Okay, but be careful," Elaina said, concern written on her pretty face.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Levy assured her.

She grabbed some rope that Lee had brought and gave one end to Nero. She began her slow journey across the room, scanning the floor carefully for any signs of cracks or soft spots. It seemed very stable and she gradually began to cross confidently towards the far end. Once at the back wall, she marked the rope and then headed towards where the pottery was. She gingerly picked up one of the smaller pieces, and blew on its side. The dust clouded her eyes for a moment, but when it cleared, she could make out some patterns on the sides. Best to leave this for a team of experts, she thought, carefully picking up the other two and returning to the doorway. The group stepped aside to let her back into the corridor, where she set the jars down.

At that moment, a large boom sounded overhead, causing the entire structure to shake violently.

"What was that?" Lee yelled as the tremors only got worse, causing small stones to come loose from the ceiling.

"I don't know! Get close to me!" Levy commanded.

Everyone crowded around her as she threw up a solid script structure around them. Grabbing her stylus, she began writing feverishly. Purple runes glowed brightly in the air, surrounding them with walls of words. Levy remembered to form a floor and also wove a spell into the box to keep it suspended should the floor beneath them give way. Larger stones fell down and cracked the solid ceiling of her first barrier, splintering it to pieces; but her rune barrier held fast. She continued to write, layering every spell she could think of to keep them safe in these walls. Finally satisfied, she removed her first solid barrier, as keeping that magic up only drained her of more energy.

"It's going to be okay", she assured everyone, though she had a hard time keeping her own voice even. "The rune barrier will hold until I release it myself, and we'll stay in this spot even if the floor collapses."

"What was that boom? It sounded like dynamite going off," Nero said, holding Elaina protectively.

"I'm not sure," Kane answered, "But it shook this whole place pretty bad. Anyone coming to help us will have to be really careful."

"Don't worry. I'm sure Gajeel and Lily will come to get us out," Levy said. "Gajeel can throw up metal braces as he goes to keep everything steady."

"How will they even know where we are? They've never been up here," Lee said.

"They will track our scents to this spot. Finding us won't be a problem," she replied.

"Finding us may not be an issue, but getting to us might…look," Kane pointed to the passage that Levy had dug.

The explosion or whatever it was had caused the ceiling above the tunnel to collapse, filling in her channel. Now, Gajeel and Lily would have to dig it out again to get to them. That could take hours. Levy leaned up against the wall of the barrier, slowly sliding to the floor. The rubble had stopped falling and the dust was mostly cleared, but it didn't make their situation any less bleak.

"It's going to be okay," she said again, assuring herself as much as anyone else. "They'll find us."

Kane sat beside her, putting his hand on her head and rubbing a little. It reminded her of Gajeel.

"Of course they'll find us," he said assured everyone in a tone that left no doubts. "All we need to do is sit tight and wait."

"Why wait…why can't we try to get ourselves out?" Ian asked.

"Because it's way too unstable out there. We need someone to lay supports before they come after us. Gajeel can do that," Nero replied.

"And if this place starts to cave in any more, I'm not sure I have enough energy to make another rune barrier," Levy admitted.

Kane looked down at her with a concerned face, "Is this barrier drawing on your energy constantly or only when it's cast?"

"Both. It does feed off of me a little to maintain itself, but most of the energy is drained when I build it."

"Are you going to be able to maintain it?" Lee asked.

"Yes," Levy answered. "We've got a long time before I run out of energy, don't worry," she said, smiling.

In truth, she had used a _lot _of power making this prison of words for them. Each layer she wove in had cost her a little extra, and maintaining it was more challenging than she let on. Besides that, she was already physically exhausted from her hours of digging. She was good at casting solid scripts, but these rune barriers were more of Fried's expertise than hers. If she had had more time, she probably could have constructed the walls in such a way as to cost her little energy to maintain. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to really think it through, and casting it the way she did had put a tremendous amount of strain on her. Kane seemed to sense that she was not being totally truthful and kept a close eye on her. She was grateful for his presence. The twins were fun to be around and everyone loved their jokes, but everyone respected them as well, especially Kane. He was the more mature of the two, and his presence seemed to help soothe everyone else, even her.

She glanced at the others, measuring each of their reactions. Elaina was scared, but she stayed quiet in her new boyfriend's arms. Nero's mouth was set it a hard line, his face mirroring his brother's determined expression. Lee and Ian looked anxious, but they were not panicking and seemed to be holding it together. Levy wondered what her face looked like to them. Did they believe that things were as 'okay' as she was telling them? She wasn't so sure. But she still needed to put on a brave face. She was a Fairy Tail mage after all, and she _had _saved them. But now, the rest was up to Gajeel. She couldn't let the barrier falter for even a second until he came for them.

"_He'll be here soon," _she told herself over and over.

The minutes ticked away and nothing happened. Levy had at least expected to be able to hear the efforts of their rescuers long before she saw them. Maybe the thick stone walls were masking the sounds of digging. She was about to offer another word of encouragement to break the thick silence, when the sounds of muffled booms reached their ears. None were as loud as the first sound that had rocked the entire castle, but they seemed to increase in volume – like they were getting closer.

"Sounds like your man isn't wasting any time getting to us," Kane told her with a little wink.

She smirked at him, "Patience is not one of his virtues."

"Thank God for that," Nero added. "Is Pantherlily with him?"

"I'm sure he is. He'll be in battle mode now. He's frighteningly strong when he's in that form," she said.

"Yeah, who knew the cute little kitty man could turn into that beast?" Kane commented.

"He's so cool!" his brother agreed.

Levy giggled at them; they sounded like they were talking about some action hero. Lily would be pleased. The sounds of their rescue were indeed getting closer – the boys must be in the corridor now. She suddenly realized that Gajeel would probably not waste time digging, but would just punch through the wall in front of him in an effort to get to them quickly. She decided maybe it would be a good idea to try and move the rune barrier back from the rubble a bit. She was about to inform everyone of her idea, when the wall of debris shuddered as if it had been hit from the other side with extreme force. Once, twice, three times it shook, more and more stones crashing to the ground around them. A few hit the barrier, but it held.

Levy gathered her little remaining energy to move them back, and then all at once the wall crumbled. Dust filled the air around them, blocking their view of the gaping hole in the rubble. Torchlight filtered in through the smoky screen, casting dark silhouettes of their saviors. Two massive shadows gradually dissolved into the faces of Gajeel and Lily, both covered head to toe in dust and scratches. Gajeel's shirt was torn a little at the shoulder, revealing a pretty nasty gash, but otherwise he looked fine. Levy couldn't help the wide grin that formed on her face upon seeing him.

"You're late, what took you so long?" she teased.

"About four tons of rock - are you okay?" he replied, his voice rough with worry.

"We're all fine," she assured him.

"Good, drop the rune wall and we'll get out of here. I braced the floor real good, so we should be fine."

"Okay," she complied and gratefully released the magic draining her.

She was exhausted, but she felt stronger already once the barrier wasn't drawing any more power from her. Gajeel closed the gap between them and pulled her close, not really caring about their audience.

"Please don't ever do that to me again," he said, his voice muffled by her hair.

"I will try very hard not to," she said, wrapping her arms around his waist.

He turned to the others, still holding her against his side, "Anybody hurt?"

Kane answered for everyone, "We're all fine, thanks to Levy. That's one hell of girl you've got there."

Gajeel grinned at him, "No need to tell me."

Lily spoke for the first time, "Braces or no, we should probably not linger here."

"He's right, let's go," Nero said, taking Elaina's hand. "Lee, Ian…why don't you grab the vases."

The two men grabbed the mentioned pieces, which had luckily been inside the barrier Levy had thrown up. Everyone quickly made their way through the rubble and down the corridor to the stairs. On the other side of the wall, they could see the extent of the damage to the building. Portions of the ceiling had collapsed, leaving small piles of rubble on the floor. A section of the staircase had caved in as well, leaving them a narrow way to descend. Levy noticed the hallway leading to the basement looked clear though, as they passed it and emerged into the faded glow of twilight. The fresh air was heaven after breathing in all that dust.

A small crowd had assembled around the front of the ruins. Levy watched as Sara broke free and ran into Kane's arms, kissing him rather passionately in front of everybody. She smiled as Leah hugged her sons and Elaina. Ian and Lee were also greeted warmly by their friends. These people were such a close-knit group – everyone was there to make sure they were all right.

Leah approached them and threw her arms around Levy, "Thank you so much for saving them. You are truly amazing. And you too," she added, hugging Gajeel and Lily.

Levy stifled a laugh as Gajeel accepted the embrace rather awkwardly; Lily was a little more gracious about it. They both shrugged off the praise and insisted they really didn't do anything. The workers began to disperse, taking their family members and friends back toward the tents. Gajeel pulled Levy aside; Lily joined them after shrinking back down to his normal size.

"We're leaving," Gajeel said.

"What? I don't understand."

"Lily and I talked about it all day. This is the only way we can think to lure these guys out again. They know they are dealing with three mages. They'd have to be either incredibly stupid or incredibly ballsy to take this thing with all of us here. And we lost the element of surprise, thanks to last night."

"So we're going to pull out entirely, so that the whole camp knows. It will create the perfect opportunity for them to take the artifact," Lily explained. "So when they do take it, we'll catch them."

"…Because we're not really leaving?" Levy asked.

"Exactly."

"So we make everyone think we're abandoning them when we're really not? Is that really okay?" she questioned.

"Well, we're gonna feed 'em some bull story about going for reinforcements or something," Gajeel explained.

"Okay," Levy said, sounding a little doubtful. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning," Lily said.

"Okay, maybe we can come up with a better excuse than 'reinforcements' before then," she suggested.

"Such as?" Gajeel asked.

"I don't know, Master Makarov is deathly ill and all the mages have been called back from their assignments?"

Lily and Gajeel looked at each other and shrugged.

"Well, at least it doesn't make us sound like cowards," Lily said.

"True. Okay, whatever. Just pack your things tonight," Gajeel said.

"Okay. Hey, I left some reference books and stuff down in the Dragon Room. I'm going to go get those now before it gets totally dark. Why don't you go back and get cleaned up?"

"Okay; sure you don't want me to come with you?" Gajeel offered.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just running downstairs," she said, the independent side of her not wanting to feel coddled. "Why don't you see if Kane can patch up your shoulder – he's good with field dressing."

"That's probably a good idea," Lily said.

He looked at the still bleeding injury and sighed, "Fine. Just hurry up, okay?"

"Will do. See you in a bit," she said, heading back into the castle.

She cast a solid script for fire and brought it along with her, illuminating the dark hallway. She descended down the staircase carefully, as the narrow steps had little bits of rock on them that had been knocked down from the ceiling. Overall though, this area seemed relatively unaltered from whatever had caused the first cave in. She wondered if maybe the volcanic mountain that this place was set into wasn't as dormant as they had originally thought. But it had been thousands of years since its last eruption, so surely that couldn't be the case. If it were true though, everyone would be in grave danger. Any lava flow would wash away the entire camp, and even the ash alone would probably kill them at this close range if they couldn't evacuate in time. But volcanic eruptions didn't just happen without warning. There were earthquakes that preceded something like that.

"_Like the one today," _Levy thought to herself.

But the big boom today didn't feel like an earthquake. Nero was right, it almost sounded like a blast of dynamite. Whatever the case, it didn't matter now. They could investigate the cave in after they caught the thieves. She still didn't think that pulling out was a very good idea, but she guessed it was probably a necessary ploy if this was going to work. She trusted Gajeel and Lily to come up with the best plan, and if this was it, who was she to argue? She made her way over to the far end of the basement, nearing the book-wall. Spotting her reference material, she stooped to big up the big leather bound volume.

Suddenly, a hand clamped over her mouth and jerked her upright. Her loss of concentration caused the solid script to flicker out, blanketing them in total darkness. She struggled against her captor who had an arm around her throat. It was a man, she could tell from the feel of his flat chest against her back. His arms were small though, not very muscular at all. Remembering her lesson from earlier, she grabbed his wrist and pushed up with all her might, loosening his hold enough to duck out from under his arm. She pivoted around, still holding his wrist and tried to catch his other one. But in the dark, she missed it and he pulled her back towards him. Then, she heard a sound almost like that of a water sprayer. She could feel a sour smelling mist hit her face, instantly affecting her senses. She felt sluggish, and her fingers began to tingle. At an alarmingly rapid pace, her limbs began to feel numb and she could feel herself collapsing. She was tired…so tired. She fought to get free, fought to stand, fought to stay awake. It wasn't working; she was losing consciousness. Her last thought was why in the world didn't she bring Gajeel with her?

**K.K.: Well this was a beast of a chapter to write, I don't know why. It's really hard to switch gears from romance to work to danger, but I wanted to do a whole chapter from Levy's point of view since I have been focusing on Gajeel for so long. This chapter was actually supposed to go a little further into the story, but it was getting too long, so I decided to cut it off here. I think it's a good spot though - cliff hanger. Dun, dun, DUUUUUN! ****Anyways, R&R as always my friends (I'm trying to get 100 reviews out of this thing). Hope you like it! Love to all!**


	10. Recompense

Dragon Script

Chapter 10: Recompense

Gajeel let out a hiss as Kane pierced his inflamed flesh with a needle and pulled the thread through, drawing the two sides of his wound together. He mentally berated himself once more for being stupid enough to get the injury in the first place. When he and Lily had heard the explosion, neither had stopped to assess the danger before running headlong into the ruins. Gajeel had noticed a plume of smoke billowing from the top of the mountain, just over the crest. He had gone in and thrown up some braces beneath the spot he knew they had been excavating. One of the iron poles had dislodged a massive boulder from the ceiling. He had been so focused on getting the supports up and running upstairs, he hadn't even noticed the cracking stone. It would have fallen on his head and probably killed him if Lily hadn't pulled him out of the way. As it was, the stone had caught the side of his shoulder and ripped through at least one layer of muscle. He had put his armor up after that.

"Sorry, I'm going as fast as I can," Kane apologized, pulling the thread through once more.

"It's fine. I'm just pissed that I let it happen in the first place."

"Yeah well, you were distracted, it happens. When your lady's in distress, who really stops to think about the little things…like falling ceilings?"

"Ha. Yeah, I guess," Gajeel allowed himself a chuckle at his sarcasm.

He found himself kind of liking Kane as the other man waded through his bloody work. He cast a sideways glance at him, looking for a distraction from the pain. Kane was around his age, perhaps a little older. The twins were identical in face, but Kane's dark hair was a little shorter than his brother's and his eyes were green instead of blue. Even though they had the same features, Kane seemed older than Nero. Although Gajeel hadn't really spent time with the twins, even he enjoyed their constant jokes and teasing during meals when they were all together. He also appreciated what Levy had told him earlier about how they had run interference for her with James. He wasn't normally one to express gratitude or anything, but for some reason he felt it necessary in this instance.

"Hey, uh Kane?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks…for keeping an eye of Levy when she was working with you guys. Especially when James was there," he finished awkwardly.

"Ah. Yeah, don't mention it. It's kind of like a part time job for me and Nero - maybe full time," he added, laughing. "See, Nero and I grew up with James because our parents have worked for the Branford's since before we were born. He's always been a skirt chasing pisspot. I guess some of it is because his mom died when he was young," he said, tying off the last knot on his stitching job and picking up some clean bandages. "Henry tried to raise him right, but he's not really the disciplinarian, so James ended up pretty spoiled. Nero and I have been watching out for the girls on the dig site since we were probably fourteen years old. Levy handled herself pretty well though. She never gave him the time of day." He finished wrapping the bandages around Gajeel's shoulder and chest, "Okay, you're all set."

"Thanks," Gajeel said, standing up and stretching his arm to test the give of the bandages. "So you seem pretty close to Henry?"

"Yeah, he's kind of like an uncle to Nero and I. Our dad knew him since they were kids. He even helped pay for our education. He may always have his nose stuck in some ancient excavation or another, but he's a good man."

"Yeah, he seems like a decent guy."

"Hey, where's Levy? I thought she came back with you?" Kane asked suddenly.

"She went back to the basement to get a book she left down there," he replied. He looked back toward the ruins and rubbed the back of his neck, "I thought she'd be back by now though. She should have come right here."

"Maybe you better go look for her, it's almost dark," Kane suggested, sounding a little worried as well.

"Yeah, maybe you're right -"

Gajeel stopped short when he saw Pantherlily flying rapidly towards them, a worker running behind him.

"What is it, Lily?" Gajeel demanded.

His cat turned to the man running up without answering. The man reached them and dropped his hands to his knees, trying to catch his breath. Kane helped him stand upright, patting his back.

"Chase?"

"The dynamite is gone," he panted.

"What?" Gajeel and Kane exclaimed together.

"I climbed up the hill once I saw that everyone was okay, to see if I could find out what caused the explosion. There was a crater blast on the far side of crest, and a tunnel entrance in the side of the mountain was opened up. I knew it was dynamite immediately."

"Chase is our demolitions man," Kane explained.

"I spotted him as he was coming down the mountain," Lily said. "When he told me what he saw, I flew off to check the shed. All the dynamite is missing, and take a look at this."

He dropped the padlock to the shed into Gajeel's hand. The metal was mangled, almost as if it had been melted.

"Acid?"

"That's what it looks like," Kane agreed.

"I don't know, but it appears as though someone has broken into our store room, blown a hole in the mountain, and gained access to the ruins from another point," Lily said.

Gajeel locked eyes with Pantherlily, "Levy hasn't come back from the lower level yet."

"Go!" Kane said. "I'm going to get Henry and let him know what's going on."

"Okay…and make sure he still has the cylinder that Levy found," Gajeel replied.

He turned and began running for the ruins, Lily flying at his shoulder.

"Fly up to the crater and see if you can find out where that tunnel leads, but be careful!" he told Lily.

"I'm on it. You be careful too, this could be a mage we're dealing with."

"It's beginning to look more and more like that."

Lily veered off and Gajeel poured on more speed as he closed in on the ruins. He was almost certain that it was a mage. Something about the sight of that twisted metal in his hands was sending off a warning in his head. He was across the front courtyard in seconds, turning sharply to dash down the corridor to the staircase. He didn't stop to light a torch, choosing to rely on his good night vision. He sprinted down the staircase, the damp air hitting him in the face like a tangible wall. It was pitch dark at the bottom, the light from the stairwell barely reaching into the vast room at all. But his keen nose told him immediately that someone else was down here…besides Levy.

He stopped short, and strained to pierce the darkness with his eyes. Maybe he should have lit a torch. As his eyes adjusted though, he began to be able to make out the shapes of the support pillars that ran the length of the room. Two pillars away from him, perhaps twenty feet away, a figure emerged from behind one of the stone supports. Gajeel drew in a sharp breath when he realized the person was holding Levy awkwardly with one arm. She wasn't moving.

Gajeel felt like he'd been hit by a giant wall of water. An emotion he could not readily identify bore down on him with all the force of a thousand tsunamis. He realized a moment later what the strange feeling was.

Fear.

Not the kind of fear you feel when you realize you're up against an opponent that may be stronger than you. Or the fear you feel when you are attempting something you've never done before and you don't think you will be good at it. It was the feeling that the most important thing in the world had been taken away from him. It was the feeling he had when Metalicana had left him all alone without a friend in the world. But worse. Much, much worse.

He calmed his mind, forcing himself to focus. First, he strained his ears, listening for the sounds of her breath, he heartbeat…anything. There. She was breathing, short shallow breaths. But she was alive.

He shifted his attention to the figure holding her. He decided it was a male, though very slight in build. His face was hidden by a hood, but Gajeel could tell there was not much to him from what he could see under the man's cloak. Only a set of thin, cracked lips was visible to his eyes. His scent was another story. The man reeked of death and decay and chemicals. _Potion's master. _Gajeel was sure of it now. His worst fears were now being realized. This was a poor match for him - for any Dragon Slayer.

"You are wise to stay where you are, Fairy Tail scum," the man croaked, his voice raspy and thin, as though it were rarely used. "One wrong move, and I'll finish her."

The creature held something in his other hand, it looked almost like a…spray bottle? He held it threateningly in front of Levy's face. Whatever was in that thing could not be good. Vaporized poison, perhaps? Gajeel's overwhelming fear was beginning to ebb away. It was swiftly replaced by the fierce desire to rip this man's head off his shoulders. But losing his cool now would not help Levy. He needed to start a dialog with this man and use that time to find an opening to attack.

"_Great - small talk. Not my greatest talent. Oh well, here goes. Let's start with the obvious."_

"What do you want?" he asked, struggling to keep the menace in his voice to a minimum.

"That would take quite a long time to explain, I'm afraid."

"Well, as long as you have her, I'm not moving. And as soon as you drop her, you're dead - so it seems like we've both got time."

"_Probably not the best thing to say to put him at ease, but what the hell?"_

The man's lips pressed together a little tighter, but then he smiled, "Well, since you put it that way, I guess I'll humor you, Dragon Slayer."

"_Hmm, trying to throw me off with the whole 'I know more about you than you know about me' ploy. Two can play at that game."_

"I'm listening, Potion Master."

The man smiled again, "Well, maybe you're not as dumb as you look."

Gajeel refused to be baited, and chose to cross his arms and take a wide stance. Threatening, but not conducive to sudden movements. He was more in the light from where he stood, and the mage across from him would be looking to see if he was coiling to spring. It seemed to work, as the man relaxed ever so slightly.

"Well, I guess I will start by telling you that I am the "bandits" you have been looking for."

"You're working alone?"

"Yes. And your theory about there being an inside man was also incorrect - though not far from the truth."

"Oh?"

"In a sense, just about everyone in the camp was my inside man. You see, my potions allow me to not only draw information from people, but to make them forget they ever had the conversation in the first place."

"So you found out from the workers when and where they found any new artifacts."

"Yes. As well as the abilities of you and your comrades. Speaking of which, where is that little shape-shifting cat of yours?"

"Waiting for me with the workers," Gajeel lied smoothly.

"Ah, well we had better keep this short then, so he won't worry."

"What did you do to Levy?"

"Oh this?" he asked, adjusting her body so that her head dropped back against his shoulder. "She's just paralyzed and unconscious. Both will wear off in a few hours. Another spray of this though," he said, jiggling the bottle in front of her nose, "will kill her in minutes."

"What is it you're trying to do?" Gajeel asked, his tone a little more biting.

"You read the story, I'm assuming?" the man asked, inclining his head to the wall behind him.

"Yeah."

"Then you know about Sidonia?"

Gajeel thought for a moment, "The demon who taught dark magic to a human and started a war with the dragons?"

"The Queen of Demons," the mage corrected, his voice holding a tone of admiration.

Gajeel tried not to roll his eyes, _"One of these guys, huh?" _"Whatever."

The creature scowled at him, "She defeated the King of Dragons."

"Last I heard, he sealed her away somewhere and threw away the key. Doesn't sound like she won."

The man broke into a peel of raspy laughter, "Ah, that's where you're wrong, Dragon Slayer. You see, Arawn did not throw away the key - he merely hid it. And the King of Fools hid the key in the same place he sealed the demon."

Realization struck Gajeel as he processed what the man was saying, "The artifacts. They're the key. Then that means she's buried here," he glared pointedly at his opponent, "and you're trying to free her."

"Precisely."

Gajeel allowed himself a chuckle, "Like I'm going to let you do that."

"Well, I don't see how you have a choice," it sneered. "I've got your woman."

"If this demon is as bad as the story says; then she could level this place as soon as she's freed. We would all be dead anyway."

"Not necessarily. You could choose to offer yourselves as her subjects and save your lives. She will be glad to accept followers after her long slumber."

"Or maybe she'll be looking for a snack after a thousand years and decide to worry about subjects later. Do you really think she'll spare you because you freed her?"

"Even if she chose to consume me to restore her body, my life has been devoted to this moment - I am prepared for anything."

"_For crying out loud, I hate these types."_

"Well I'm not ready to let myself or any of these people become demon chow, so you're out of luck, pal," Gajeel stated, dropping his arms to his side and risking a step forward.

"No closer!" it cried, stepping back and waving the bottle in front of Levy's face again.

Gajeel stopped, but he was in a battle ready position now and the mage new it. They were in a tense stalemate now. Gajeel knew he had to make a move and soon. He had stalled all he could and it didn't look as if Pantherlily was going to find them in time. He risked a glance at Levy to see if she showed any signs of coming to. He frowned. Not only was she nowhere near consciousness, she looked worse than when he had first seen her. A lot worse. She was barely breathing and her face was covered in sweat. Panic struck him once more.

"_He lied. He lied to me! She was poisoned all along! She's almost gone!"_

His face must have betrayed that the game was up for the mage, because he pushed her away toward Gajeel with all his might and took a leap backwards - right into Pantherlily's reach. Gajeel had not even seen Lily come into the room, nor where he came from. His cat's ear-splitting roar resonated off of the walls of the chamber, drowning out the sound of Gajeel's cry as he rushed forward to catch Levy before she hit the ground. He did not see Lily grab the mage in his arms and throw him against the wall. He did not hear the sickening crack of the man's head hitting the stone. He did not see the fear on Lily's face as he realized how far gone Levy was. All he saw was her.

He pulled her across his lap, cradling her head in the crook of his arm. Her hair was damp against his skin. He brushed his fingers over her clammy skin. It was so cold beneath his touch. Even in the dim light he could see that her flesh had lost most of its color and now reflected a gray tint. Her lips were bluish. Her breathing was short and shallow; barely any air was passing her mouth. He let his hand rest against her chest, reaching for the sound of her heartbeat. It was there, but just barely. It was so slow.

"_Please, no. This can't be happening. I can't lose her!"_

"Levy? Wake up," he demanded, shaking her gently. His voice sounded like a child pleading to his own ears. "Don't leave me," he begged.

Her heart fluttered under his hand. But instead of picking up its pace, it only seemed to slow down more. Her breathing had also changed. He knew this sound. He had heard it many times before. The death rattle. She was slipping away from him.

"No!" he cried, and was surprised to actually feel hot tears streaking down his cheeks and clouding his vision.

His blood was thundering in his ears, but his mind felt numb…cold. He could hear nothing, not even the sound of his sobs or the telling noise of her last breaths or the mournful whine in the back of Lily's throat. He was losing her with every passing moment, and there was nothing he could do about it. He felt so helpless. Emptiness threatened to swallow him whole in its dark clutches. It drew him into its nothingness further and further. He tried to escape the moment by allowing himself to be pulled away from what was happening. His mind could not even begin to process the thought of losing her. When had she become his whole world? It didn't even matter now, because his whole world was about to leave him behind. Alone. Abandoned. Just like Metalicana.

Metalicana.

What had he said? His father's words echoed in his mind, but he couldn't make them out. He tried to clear his head and remember. Suddenly, the great Iron Dragon's voice sounded clearly in his ears.

"_Remember boy, a poison bender's greatest fear is that he will fall victim to the same evil he has put on others. They _always_ carry an antidote with them."_

"_That's it!" _

"Lily!" he yelled, his voice cracking. "Go check him for a vial of some kind - an antidote!"

Pantherlily sprang into action, pawing through the mage's clothes. Gajeel belatedly realized that he was dead. His hood had fallen back to reveal an emaciated face, almost a skeleton. His eyes were still wide with shock. Well that was one thing Gajeel didn't have to worry about. Lily was at his side in seconds. He opened his claws and revealed a small glass cylinder with a bluish liquid in it. Gajeel pulled the cork off and sniffed its contents. He was no expert on potions, but he wholeheartedly believed this was the cure. He prayed it wasn't too late. Carefully parting Levy's lips, he tipped her head back and poured the contents of the vial down her throat. She seemed to swallow it. He watched her face intently for any sign of change. His hand was still pressed over her heart, waiting for something - either it would beat strong and hard, or it would stop.

He bent his head down over her face, staring at her closed lids, "Please Levy. You _can't _leave me now. C'mon shorty…open your eyes, dammit!" He sucked in a deep breath, "Levy, I should have said this sooner. I should have told you every day since we got back from Tenroujima - I…I love you. Okay? So you can't die. Do you understand me? You can't die because I love you and I won't let you leave me!"

His voice broke and he said no more. He bent his head down low, his forehead almost on her throat. Her heart once again fluttered under his palm.

And then it stopped.

One second.

Two.

Three.

Four.

_Thump. Thump. Thu-thump. _

His eyes opened slowly as the sensation traveled through his fingers and finally registered in his brain. Lily made a small choked nose beside him. He looked up at her face. And saw the most beautiful hazel gaze fixed back at him. Her eyes were still cloudy, but she was looking at him - and smiling.

She licked her lips and filled her lungs for the first time, coughing a little. "Give a girl a chance to catch her breath," she said slowly, her voice barely above a whisper.

She managed to put her hand above his own on her heart, "Oh…I love you too."

His face split into a grin and he pulled her up to him, burying his face in her neck. She weakly wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he rocked her back and forth. Pantherlily reached up and touched her hand. She laced her fingers in between his paw digits and the three of them stayed like that for a long time.

Finally, Gajeel took in a long deep breath and gathered Levy up in his arms, climbing to his feet.

"Let's get out of here."

"Sounds good to me," Levy said, laying her head weakly against his shoulder.

"Lily, would you get him please?"

"Is he alive?" Levy asked, suddenly tensing. "I can't actually see anything but the outline of your face."

"He's dead," Gajeel said shortly.

"I apologize - I didn't actually mean to kill him," Lily said.

"Don't be sorry - I was going to run him through if you hadn't been there."

Lily grabbed the man by the back of his cloak, hoisting him off the ground. He stooped to pick up a metal device that had fallen from his robes.

"So they did piece together," he said, holding up the artifact they had found earlier, which was fused with another metal piece.

"Yeah, some kind of key. I guess if you put them together, they unlock the demon seal or something."

"Why hide the key in different places then? Why not destroy the key, so it couldn't be used again?" Lily questioned.

"I don't know. To be honest, I really don't care. Let's go," Gajeel growled, heading for the stairs.

Lily followed him, dragging the dead mage with him. They made their way up the stairs and into the corridor. Moonlight filtered down the hall through the outside wall and from the entrance. They stepped out into the crisp night air, and Gajeel almost felt as if he was reborn. He felt as though he had left a part of himself back down in the that lower chamber and was now starting fresh. Levy nuzzled her cheek against his shoulder, still weak and exhausted from her ordeal. He held her tight against him, careful not to squeeze her too hard. She needed to rest now.

Someone shouted from down the dirt path, and the twins came bounding towards them with torches, Henry and James in tow.

"Is she alright?" Nero asked, reaching them first.

"She'll be okay," Gajeel assured him. "She needs rest though. She was poisoned - she almost died," he stumbled over the last word. "We got her the antidote in time though."

"Good heavens," Henry said, joining them. "We need to get her some fluids then."

"Is that the guy who poisoned her?" James asked.

"Yes. He unfortunately didn't make it," Lily ground out between clenched teeth.

"Is he one of the thieves?" Kane questioned.

"It was only ever him," Gajeel told him. "I'll explain everything when we get down there, right now I want to make sure Levy's okay."

The party made their way down to the tents and James got a canteen of water for Levy. Others were gathered around waiting to hear what had happened. While Levy stayed in Gajeel's arms and sipped her water, he explained the whole story to them. Levy filled in the brief part of her struggle and when she was poisoned. She didn't remember much after that. When he had finished telling his tale, Gajeel sat down with Levy and answered as many questions as he could. There was still a lot left unexplained, as Henry pointed out. He also wondered about the key and why it was left intact.

Gajeel shrugged, "Who knows? Maybe Arawn figured that since he was going to destroy the whole city, why bother destroying the key? Dragons tend to look at the big picture and skip over the little details. One thing's for sure, you don't want to go anywhere near the chamber that demon is sealed in."

"And if this guy figured out Sidonia was here, chances are that there are others that know of her whereabouts," Lily pointed out.

"We definitely need to keep her presence here a secret," Kane agreed.

"Seems like the safest thing to do would be to blow up the whole castle," Nero pointed out.

Henry gasped, "But all the knowledge and artifacts that could still be hidden here!"

"Will be for nothing if the demon escapes and wipes out half of humanity…again," Nero countered.

"There is much to be thought on and decided," Lily said. "But none of it needs to be done tonight. What we all need is rest. Tomorrow we can look on this whole matter with fresh eyes and decide what to do then."

"I agree," Henry said, giving Levy an affectionate pat on the shoulder. "This little one needs a good night's sleep. We all do."

"What are we gonna do about him?" James asked, pointing to the dead guy at Lily's feet.

Pantherlily dumped the mage's body on a tarp and wrapped him up, "Throw him in the shed for tonight."

Kane and Nero took the body away and everyone slowly dispersed to their tents. Gajeel carried Levy back to theirs. She felt more refreshed after drinking water, but she was still very tired.

"Will you stay with me tonight?" she asked, her voice muffled against his chest.

"Like I was going to let you out of my sight," he replied.

"Mm, I'm glad."

"We'll sleep in my tent tonight, it's bigger."

Lily, who had returned to his normal form, padded after them, "I can sleep in Levy's tent tonight," he offered.

"Why?" Gajeel asked. "Sleep with us. For crying out loud, she was half dead an hour ago, do you think we're gonna be fooling around?"

Levy giggled in his arms, causing Lily to chuckle himself, "Thanks for that image, but no I wasn't thinking along those lines. Still, if you would like some privacy, I will not be offended."

"It's really okay, Lily," Levy assured him.

The little feline pulled aside the flap of their tent as Gajeel ducked inside with Levy. All three were tired and sore, so little attention was paid to preparing for bed. Gajeel rolled over on his uninjured right shoulder and Levy spooned up next to him, resting her head on his outstretched arm. He kicked his boots off and pulled the covers up. Pantherlily crawled in and settled himself in Levy's embrace while Gajeel threw his arm protectively over both of them. Gajeel buried his face in Levy's hair, inhaling its fragrance, as Lily's tail curled around his wrist. This was just about as good as it got, he decided. The two people he loved the most were here with him, both safe. His last thoughts before dreams claimed him were of the future the three of them could have together now and all the adventures that awaited them. That night, all of them enjoyed a sound night's sleep in each others' arms.

**K.K.: OMG, I am finally done re-writing this thing! I am sooooooooo sorry it took me so long. Can I just say I hate computers. I had this chapter FINISHED, just unedited, and my laptop crashed. It's totally dead and now I have to get a new one. Luckily my husband came home from a training trip (he's in the Navy) and I was finally able to get my hands on a laptop! Woot! So here it is...chapter 10. Surprised? More will be revealed later, but now you all have your villain - a skinny potion master obsessed with a demon queen. dun dun dun. And Gajeel finally got out those three little words - it only took Levy almost dying. So, R&R my friends. Again, please forgive me for taking so long. More coming soon! Love to all! **


	11. Bureaucracy

Dragon Script

Chapter 11: Bureaucracy

Levy awoke very slowly the following morning. She fought it for a long time; her body was still combating the poison lingering in her system. Gradually though, she struggled her way out of vivid dreams into wakefulness – becoming acutely aware of her surroundings even before she opened her eyes. The first thing she realized was that Gajeel's heavy arm was draped over her ribs, his hand loosely closed over hers. His face was pressed into her hair, and he was snoring ever so softly. Lily had moved sometime during the night and had lain himself back down on top of their pillow. Levy could feel his little sides moving up and down against the top of her head as he breathed.

She snuggled a little deeper against Gajeel's hard chest, relishing the feeling of his arms around her. He stirred, and nuzzled his face against her neck, mumbling her name as he slept. She couldn't stop the satisfied smile that crept onto her face. Everything about this moment was perfect. She was lying next to the man she loved, warm and close, the blankets tangled around their legs. She felt small and safe next to Gajeel, secure in the knowledge that he loved her and would continue to protect her. She was his now…she belonged to him as he belonged to her. She stifled a laugh when she thought of how, just a week ago, she had blown up at him for saving her. Now, she owed him her life again twice over, and didn't feel slighted in the least. Everything was as it should be.

Gajeel stirred again, stretching his legs out and pushing the covers all the way off her. His arm flexed beneath her neck as he extended and curled his fingers, working blood back into his extremities. He mumbled something into her hair.

"Hmm?" she asked, yawning.

"My arm's asleep," he said, rolling his wrist.

"Oh," she turned over to face him and propped her head up on her hand to relieve the pressure on his arm.

He sat up a little as well, raising his other hand to caress her cheek, "You are so damn beautiful."

She smiled at him, a touch of pink warming her ears. He leaned in and kissed her cheek tenderly.

"How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good, all things considered. My body is still a little stiff, but other than that, I feel fine," she said, rubbing a sleepy out of her eye.

"Good. Where are you most stiff?" he questioned.

"Um, my neck and the middle of my back are the worst, why?"

"Roll over."

"Huh?"

"Just roll over," he repeated, gently helping her settle on her stomach.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm not sure myself – Lily's usually better at this than I am," he said, placing his hands around the top of her shoulders beside her neck and kneading the tight muscle there.

Levy couldn't stifle the immediate groan of pleasure that escaped her lips, "Wow, that feels so good."

"Really? Oh good. Let me know if I rub too hard or in the wrong spot."

"Mmkay," she replied, already lost in the sensation of his powerful hands massaging away the stiffness in her muscles.

He rubbed his thumbs into the knots on either side of her neck, just under her skull. She hadn't realized those were so clenched. First he warmed the sinews with his fingers; then kneaded them out. Sometimes it was a little painful, but it was a good kind of pain. She knew it had to hurt a little before it would feel better, so she didn't complain. He worked his way down her spine, lingering in the areas between her shoulder blades and the bigger muscles that lay alongside her spine in the middle of her back. His fingers sent energy straight into her muscles, invigorating them and slowly dispelling the painful inflammation that was holding them taught. Her mind was practically buzzed with the sensations his hands left, as he alternated between his fingertips and the heel of his hand. It felt so amazing, it left her both energized and relaxed at the same time, in a way that only a good massage can. She rewarded him with little sounds of pleasure, and each time she did, she could feel his satisfaction in his touch. It pleased him to please her - that much was obvious.

Beside her head, Lily finally woke up. He stretched and took a moment to take in his surroundings. He seemed to be enjoying the scene before him.

"I see my pupil has finally found a worthy subject to practice on," he said, grinning.

"You really taught him how to do this?" Levy asked.

"Indeed. He gets awfully tense after missions, so I've gotten into the habit of working on his back a lot when we come home. It seems he is picking up the skill."

"He's amazing!" Levy agreed.

"Give me your hands."

Levy obediently gave her hands to the little feline. He took one of them in his paws and stretched her thumb and pinky finger backwards, causing the muscles in her hand to raise near the surface of her palm. He began kneading those muscles, first in the meaty section beneath her thumb, then along the outside edge. He expertly avoided pinching any of the sensitive nerves in the center of her hand, yet still managed to touch every muscle and tendon. He worked his way up from the heel to the pad, where her fingers met her palm, paying special attention to any spots that felt more calloused. Then he tugged on each of her fingers gently, encouraging a couple knuckles to crack. By the time he had finished with both hands, Levy felt like a pampered princess.

She laughed, finally rolling over onto her back, "You guys are too much you know that? Thank you _so_ much."

"Of course. Anytime you desire, your masseur will be ready to serve," Lily said with a flourish at the end, earning him a giggle from Levy.

Gajeel grinned and stretched himself out again, "Are you hungry? You need to at least drink something – Lily says that you can get dehydrated after a long massage and you should always drink water afterward."

"This is true," the cat confirmed.

"I guess I could eat a little something."

"Okay, come here," Gajeel said, reaching out to take her in his arms.

"It's okay, I can walk I think. Just help me out of the tent please."

He pulled her up and assisted her outside, as she shakily got to her feet and tested her strength. Her legs would hold her, she discovered – although all of her muscles were trembling slightly. Whether that was an after-effect of the poison, or just because she had not eaten since lunch the previous day, she was uncertain. The three of them made their way slowly to the eating area, matching Levy's pace. It was well after breakfast time, but there were still some workers lingering around the area. It seemed that work had halted for the time being, until the troubling matters at hand could be resolved. Leah was still present and had taken the time that morning to make some chicken broth for Levy, assuming that she would still feel sick when she woke. Levy gladly accepted it from the older woman and thanked her many times over. After assuring the cook that she was feeling much better, she sat down with her companions.

"After I eat, I'm going into town to send word to the Master about these events," Lily announced. "This has gotten bigger than all of us."

"I agree, that's a good idea," Levy said. "We need to figure out where that mage came from and more importantly, who he was working for."

"He might have been working alone. I've heard that potion masters tend to be the solitary type," Gajeel said.

"That's true, but we can't take the chance that someone else didn't find out what he knew about the site. If he was able to figure out that the demon Sidonia was here from whatever sources he was using, someone else might be able to do the same," Levy suggested. "This is going to be a big operation though, tracking down this man and finding out his true identity. I wouldn't be surprised if the Magic Counsel got involved."

Gajeel suddenly sat up straighter, his eyes fixed on a spot behind Levy, "I think you might be right."

Levy turned to look over her shoulder, and was surprised to see a small group of men heading their way. There were four, and all wore robes displaying the symbol of the Magic Counsel on them. As they drew near, Levy noticed the man leading the group. He was of medium height with a slender build. He had striking amethyst eyes, partially concealed by circular glasses, and his black hair was pulled back behind his head in a topknot, with stray bangs framing his face. She had seen this man before. Gajeel stood next to her and she followed suit, getting to her feet gingerly.

"Fairy Tail," The man in front said by way of greeting as he reached them. "I am Lahar, Head Captain of the Custody Enforcement Unit under the Magic Counsel."

"I know who you are," Gajeel said, eyeing the man warily. "Why are you here?"

"I should think that you would know the answer to that question already," Lahar countered, unfazed by Gajeel's tone.

"The mage who attacked us?" Levy questioned.

"Yes. We have actually been following his activity for some time. A few months ago, we lost tabs on him – until just recently when we received a lead on his current whereabouts. The Magic Counsel has been investigating him; we have suspicions that he may be involved in some sort of dark magic."

"I would say it is safe to say that your suspicions have been confirmed," Lily said.

"Is the mage here now?"

Gajeel stepped forward, standing between Lahar and Levy, "You're going to find it a little difficult to question him though; he's dead."

"Dead?! How?"

"He attacked us and nearly killed her," he inclined his head toward Levy. "We fought back, and he was killed…accidently."

"He attacked you?" Lahar asked, sounding dubious.

"It's a bit of a long story," Levy said, stepping forward. "But he came here with the intent of releasing a great evil, long forgotten."

Her choice of words seemed to peak Lahar's interest, "A great evil, you say?"

"The demon queen, Sidonia - does that name mean anything to you?" she asked.

A flash of surprise crossed the Captain's face, but was gone in the next instant, "It does. You have discovered something here then?"

"It would probably be easier to show you," she replied. "Come with us to the main tent, we'll show you what we discovered on the walls inside these ruins."

She led them all into the village of tents, stopping outside of Henry's quarters and motioned for them to wait. She announced herself and disappeared inside for a moment, before opening the tent flaps wide, beckoning them inside. Henry was there alone, pouring over some of the wall rubbings that were strewn out on a large table inside. He greeted the Magic Counsel members with some nervousness, unsure of why they were here. Lahar explained that they had been following a certain mage, and tracked him this far.

"The trail ends here, Mr. Bradford. I would like to know what happened – everything you know."

"Have a seat then; would you like some tea?" Henry offered.

"No, thank you."

Henry recounted the whole story, from beginning to end - the history of the site, the discovery of the artifacts, the theft of some of the pieces. It seemed as though the potion master was not sure which artifacts he needed to form the key, so he had continued stealing everything that they had found, in the hopes that one of the items would be what he sought after. Levy and Gajeel filled in the rest of the details about the hiring of Fairy Tail and the plan to capture the suspected "thieves". They explained everything about what they had discovered about the Dragon Slayers and the history of magic – information which did not seem to surprise the Magic Counsel mages as much as they thought it would. Finally, Levy recounted the story of the attack on her life the previous night, and Gajeel finished the rest, altering only one detail – _he _was the one who threw the potion master against the wall and accidently broke his neck.

Lahar listened to everything, seeming to soak in the information slowly. When they had finished their story, he sat there with his eyes closed, nodding his head.

"I see. This is all very interesting. I admit that some of this information, particularly the history of magic, has long been a topic of interest for the Magic Counsel. There are many theories and mythologies that explain the origins of our craft, and some of us have long suspecting that it was the dragons who played a key role in humans acquiring the skills. Still, the confirmation of Sidonia being sealed at this location only shows how close we came to utter disaster here. My thanks to you Fairy Tail mages for your expert handling of this situation. It is regrettable that the potion master is dead, but under the circumstances I understand why it is so. Nevertheless, I shall have to take you, Gajeel, into custody for a formal hearing of the events."

"What?! But Gajeel was only trying to save me, he didn't do anything wrong!" Levy cried.

"I understand, but the fact remains that a man is dead. I cannot leave this man here, ignoring the fact that he killed someone, accidentally or not. I do believe you, and I am sure than an examination of the ruins will only find evidence in your favor. I am sure that the hearings will be short and that you may return to your guild quickly. I will conduct a thorough investigation of the area myself and testify on my findings."

"I will testify as well," Levy said. "I was there too, after all."

"That will most likely prove necessary," Lahar said. "Was the Exceed there as well?"

"I was," Lily said through clenched teeth.

Levy could tell how much it was bothering him that Gajeel had taken the fall for him. No doubt they would be discussing this in private before too long, when the opportunity arose. Lahar rose to his feet, turning toward Henry.

"I really don't have any more information to reveal to you, besides to confirm what you already know. The only thing I can give you is the name of the man you have encountered – Nico Octavious. We know he has immersed himself in a little known cult that worships Sidonia as a goddess and seek to restore her. As of yet, we do not have a full list of members, but such as we are aware of, we keep close tabs on. The location of Sidonia must be keep absolutely secret, and I will be briefing your work crew here on the severity of the situation. I assume you have told all of them of the demon being here?"

Henry swallowed and nodded, "When we found out last night, I decided to immediately suspend all activity inside the ruins. Everyone has been notified on our crew, but I have not contacting our investors as of yet."

"A wise decision. The Counsel of Magic will handle the matter from this point on. Your excavation crew will be compensated for the remainder of the time spent here, and I would ask that you lend me your demolitions expert if you have one."

Henry paled when he realized that the Counsel would most likely go with Fairy Tail's original assessment and destroy the site, but he still nodded his head, "Yes, Chase is a very competent demo man. He will be able to assist you whatever you decide."

Lahar seemed to sympathize with the archaeologist, "We may allow further documentation and exploration before the demolition. Depending on what I find in the ruins, I may recommend that the Counsel waits until more can be revealed from the site. In the meantime, the artifacts that you lost before have been recovered from Octavious' apartment. We will restore those to you immediately."

Henry brightened a little at that, "Thank you very much, sir" he said, bowing low.

Levy watched their exchange from Gajeel's side. At this point, she cared very little for what happened to the site. It was a shame that after all this work, it would have to buried again – but they could not risk someone finding Sidonia and reviving her. What she was most concerned with was what was going to happen to Gajeel after this. She was not as optimistic about Gajeel getting off scot-free after killing another mage, no matter how dire the situation was. Gajeel did not have a very clean history in the eyes of the Counsel, and his past discretions might influence their decision of his innocence. And she couldn't imagine Lily standing by while Gajeel took his punishment. Lily would come clean and take the blame, and then they might both get in trouble for lying to the Counsel – and her too for that matter. Lahar said that he would help them out and testify on what he found, but what if he found evidence that Lily was the one who killed this Nico man, and not Gajeel? Would he decide not to back them? What chance would they have then?

Lahar turned to Gajeel then. "I am going to leave you in the custody of two of my men. I will go with my lieutenant and investigate the site of Octavious' death. I trust that you will stay here and not give us any trouble?" he asked with a slight warning in his voice.

"I will," Gajeel calmly replied.

"Then will you take me to place where you were attacked?" he inquired of Levy.

She nodded dumbly and followed him out of the tent. She cast a worried glance over her shoulder at Gajeel, but he only nodded slightly to her, assuring her that it was alright. She led Lahar and one of his men to the ruins and down into the basement. It seemed like a lifetime ago, instead of a matter of hours, that she had been down here, struggling to hold on to life. Her body was still weak from the poison, and she was again walking slowly. Lahar offered at one point to help her up the path, but she rallied her strength and politely refused. When they reached the basement, dimly lit by the torches they were carrying, Levy had to pause and collect her thoughts. Reliving this experience so soon after it happened took a great deal of effort as all the emotions rushed back upon her. She described her initial encounter and what she remembered of the confrontation with Gajeel. She had been slipping in and out of consciousness for most of it, but she remembered some details. She was not conscious when Lily had appeared and killed the potion master, so there was no reason to lie about that. Lahar examined closely the place where Lahar had lain. There was some blood on the wall where his head had impacted the stone but that was all. The room had been thoroughly cleaned when they excavated it, so there was no evidence at all in the way of footprints or even where Lily had dragged the mage's body away. Levy gave thanks for that. With the mage dead, it was their word against no one. There was no evidence to contradict what Gajeel had claimed. There was only their story.

"Do you really think that Gajeel will be okay?" she asked Lahar quietly as he looked around the room.

"Yes. This mage was involved in the dark arts and a known killer. We have allowed him to be free this long only because we suspected he would lead us to Sedonia. And he did. His death is of little consequence at this point. We had no further use of him. We would have apprehended him as soon as we had confirmed this was the place the demon was sealed and thrown him in prison for the rest of his life anyway – maybe even had him executed for his crimes. In a way, Gajeel did us a favor."

"I see. So, we will have to stop by the Counsel headquarters before going home to our guild?"

"Not necessarily. I will request that a judge be sent out immediately and brought to hear your testimonies. I can find no evidence contradicting your story and it's your word against that of a dead man, and known murderer at that. Examining the body will reveal more, but I do trust you. If I have word sent out today, and my request is granted, then I expect that the judge will arrive the day after tomorrow. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes, thank you again for all your help. Uh…can I ask…" her voice trailed off.

"Yes?"

"Why are you helping us? I mean, I know that Fairy Tail has had a reputation for causing trouble for the Counsel."

Lahar smiled at that, "Yes your guild has at that. But you also have a reputation for stopping some of the most powerful dark guilds in the country. You have given the Counsel many headaches, to be sure – but you have also helped us innumerable times in keeping law throughout the land. They would of course never say that to your faces, but I would. You may even discreetly pass that along to your Master Makarov."

Levy smiled back at him, "Thank you, I will."

"Alight, I think we're done here. I have no interest in making you recall any more of this nightmare. Let us return. Anthony," he said, turning to his Lieutenant.

"Sir?"

"When we get back to camp, I want you to head into town and send word to the Counsel, describing our situation, and pass on my request for a circuit judge to be sent immediately."

"Yes sir."

Levy led them back out of the basement, knowing this may very well be her last time down here. Normally, she would be sad to say goodbye to such a fantastic place – but after all that had happened in this room, she was not sorry to leave. They returned topside, and Levy found Gajeel and Lily in the company of the other two men Lahar came with. They were seated in the eating area, and the twins had also joined them. They all looked up at her arrival, and Gajeel seemed to notice that she was more at ease than when she left.

"How are you feeling, Levy?" Nero asked.

"I'm much better, thank you," she replied, sitting down next to Gajeel.

She noted that Lahar's lieutenant immediately left to fulfill his mission. She was glad he decided not to tarry.

"So what now?" she asked. "What do we do until word arrives from the Counsel?"

"Wait," Lahar answered. "You understand that I must keep you under guard until the judge arrives, if he does?"

"A judge is coming here?" Gajeel asked.

"If my request is granted, then yes. You may have to wait a couple days."

"Fine. You have my word, you won't have trouble from me – but I understand that you have to guard me," Gajeel said.

Levy was a little surprised at how mild Gajeel sounded. Normally, she would have expected him to be much more aggravated at the whole situation, but he had been nothing but meek and compliant with Lahar since he arrived. It was a little puzzling, but then she realized why. Everything he was doing, he was doing to protect Lily. The Exceed had no black marks on his record, and Gajeel was determined to keep it that way. By being absolutely compliant, he was doing his best to keep the suspicions down. All he could do was hope that no one at the site accidentally let slip the truth. As if reading her thoughts, Gajeel announced that Henry had called together a meeting of all the workers while she was gone to the ruins.

"He explained to them why _I _am in custody," he said, emphasizing himself. "And informed them of the situation with the dig. They took it all pretty well, I think."

"Good," she replied. "I guess all we can do now is wait, just as Lahar said.

* * *

><p>It wasn't until later that night when everyone went to bed that Levy and Gajeel were finally able to talk about their situation privately with Pantherlily. In the confines of their tent, Levy cast a spell that silenced their speech to outside ears. They could speak freely inside the runes, but outside the guards would think they were asleep. As expected, Lily was incredibly displeased with Gajeel. He shouted for a good ten minutes before either of them could calm him down. Finally, he sat down, crossing his arms over his chest, letting them explain themselves.<p>

"Lily, I understand that you're pissed – I would be too in your situation. But look, you just got here and you have done nothing wrong – I'm not going to let the Magic Counsel put any kind of black mark on your record. I already have a rap sheet here a mile long – I was part of a dark guild, remember? They expect me to overdo it and accidently kill a guy. And besides, you heard what Levy said – we did the Counsel a favor by offing him."

"Yes, which is why you should let me take the responsibility for my own actions. If it's 'no big deal' as you keep on insisting, then what does it matter?" Lily countered.

"It's already too late," Levy said. "If we were to reveal now that we lied to Lahar, he might not trust us. We need his good opinion and the weight of his testimony. We are in a good place right now, but we might not be if we tell the truth now."

"I understand what you are saying and I see the wisdom in it," Lily acknowledged. "But I still don't like it."

"None of us do, but this is the way it's going to be – and that's the end of it," Gajeel said with finality. "Now let's go to sleep, I don't want Levy to have to keep casting this magic."

"I'm fine. Should I go back to my own tent?"

"No, they think we're asleep right? It might be weird if you fell asleep with us and then got up and went to bed again."

"Oh yeah."

"What, you don't want to cuddle with me tonight?" Gajeel asked, putting on a mock hurt face.

She laughed, "Of course I do. I can't imagine sleeping another night without my guys." The words were just out her mouth, before she realized how that sounded, "I mean…"

"I don't want to be without you either," Gajeel interrupted – pulling her down next to him and wrapping her up in his arms. "C'mon Lily, you too."

The little feline, obviously still upset, begrudgingly settled down on the pillow above Gajeel's head. Despite the events of the day, they all fell asleep rather quickly.

All but one.

Neither Levy nor Gajeel noticed Pantherlily creep out of the tent in the middle of the night. Neither did they notice his stealthy return some hours later.

* * *

><p><strong>K.K: Okay, I know I can't apologize enough for my 6 month hiatus. I don't even have a good excuse. Life happens. Gomenasai! I know this wasn't a very exciting chapter, but I've only got a little more to go now – I just have a few more loose ends to tie up, and maybe one more twist to throw in at the end. ;) Love to all! R&amp;R, as always. And by the way – I have to say that it's all of your reviews and support that keep me coming back to these stories and keeping them alive. I have you all to thank for my resolve to finish this!<strong>


	12. Lawless

Dragon Script

Chapter 12: Lawless

Gajeel spent the next day much as he had spent the last – sitting under the watchful eye of Lahar's attendants. Levy stayed with him most of the time, since he was allowed limited movement. In accordance with Lahar's orders, there was a complete halt in any work regarding the ruins. No workers were allowed in or out, save to collect any tools that may have been left behind. Lahar had received word from his lieutenant yesterday that his request had been granted, and that a circuit judge was on his way – due to arrive tomorrow morning. Gajeel could do nothing more than wait to be heard. Lily's mood seemed to have brightened from the night before, although the little feline was still a bit testy. He had worked some irritation off in the morning by doing a series of katas with his broadsword. Many of the workers in the camp came to watch his performance, quietly whispering their awe over his full-sized form and the expert handling of his weapon. Even Lahar had watched for a time; the Exceed's graceful movement seemed to impress even him. Gajeel had considered joining him for a spare, but decided against it. A show of strength might only put the Council representatives ill at ease. They were already well aware of the fact that Gajeel could overpower and escape them easily – he was simply choosing not to.

Thus, the day came and went with nothing significant to mark its passing. Gajeel and Levy went to sleep early, with nothing to keep them up. Lily elected to stay awake for a while, spending some time with the twins.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Gajeel was feeling slightly edgy, with his impending hearing just hours away. Lily was off again, meandering around camp, speaking with different people they knew. Maybe he just wanted to get his goodbyes in, since they would be leaving this afternoon if all went well. Gajeel was a little concerned with his cat's behavior. It wasn't as if Lily was outright avoiding him, but he did seem a little aloof. He was sure the panthercat was still irked about the whole situation, but there was nothing any of them could do about it now.<p>

"What are you thinking?" Levy asked him, breaking into his thoughts as they sat together on the grassy hillside just outside of camp.

The guards were nearby, keeping half an eye on them, but holding a quiet conversation of their own. They had grown relaxed today since it had become obvious that Gajeel was going to be true to his word.

"I was thinking about Lily and how he must be feeling right now. He seems a little less pissed today – I think he's just accepted things. Think he's still mad?"

"He won't stop being upset until all this is over and behind us. But everything will be fine, remember what Lahar said?"

"Yeah, I know what Lahar said. I just don't know if it's going to be that easy."

"Why are you so worried?"

"Levy, a guy is dead. Even if it was an accident, even if it was self-defense…_even if I didn't do it_," he said, lowering his voice so that the guards couldn't hear him. "That doesn't change that fact that he's dead. The Council doesn't like mages killing other mages – no matter the reason. And if this judge has any idea of my history, things won't be as easy as Lahar thinks."

"What do you mean? It's not like Phantom Lord was a true dark guild, they were recognized by the Council and then they went rogue."

Gajeel gave her a sidelong glance, "Do you know how a dark guild starts?"

"With evil intentions?"

"No. With greed. Some want to unleash something evil. Most of them start because one guild wants to rule the other guilds. Once they do that, they want to take over the whole system – and then the world. It's one thing to have a little ambition – it's totally different to want to keep everyone else under your boot. Jose didn't attack Fairy Tail just because he was jealous; he attacked because it was the last obstacle between himself and being the ultimate power in Fiore. And I was the tool he used to do it. He knew that if he started a guild war for no reason, the Council would stop him. He wasn't ready to take them on, but he wanted to take down the whole Magic Council, putting himself on top of everything. If you only knew the things that we did to the other guilds to stay on top …the things I did," he paused, taking in a deep breath.

"Gajeel?"

"You weren't the first person I hurt, Levy. There were so many more. There are mages out there who will never be able to practice magic again like they used to because of what I did to them. It was quiet and random, so no one would know it was us. I wasn't the only one, but I was the best. I had the best results. I was a monster," he ground his teeth, unable to say any more.

Levy stared at him for a long moment, silent. He was afraid if he said more that she would no longer want to be with him – that her fear of him would return. It may have already. He couldn't blame her. But he did want her to know the truth. He would not hide from his past. Makarov had given him a second chance, but that did not erase the sins of the past. He still had a lot that he needed to atone for. A soft hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality.

"We have all done things in the past that we are not proud of, Gajeel. Some of us have done things worse than others, but I don't really think it matters. Whether you have lied to your friends in the past to help yourself – or beaten up other rival guild members – what really matters is that our hearts change. I think your heart has changed Gajeel. I don't think you would do those things that you used to."

He turned to face her, "What if I did?"

She fixed him with an even gaze, "Then my heart would be broken."

Unable to even entertain the thought of causing her pain, he leaned in suddenly and kissed her. After a moment, he released her and rested his forehead against hers, "I promised on the island that I would protect you - that means your heart too. I'll…protect your heart." He sounded lame even to his own ears, but she only smiled and kissed his cheek.

"I know you will. Now, no more worrying about your past. You are not on trial for your past – you're only going to tell your story about what happened here. A man tried to kill me. You threw him against a wall and he hit his head. He died. The end."

Gajeel laid himself back in the grass, crossing his arms behind his head, "Yeah."

He watched her sitting next to him, a sudden breeze catching stray strands of her hair. She wasn't looking at him, but seemed to be staring absently at the landscape in the distance. The sun was shining down on both of them, and the light wind was stirring the trees at the base of the mountain. It was a beautiful day. She was the most beautiful part of it. He needed her, he realized, not for the first time this week. She had become such an important part of him. Her love for him proved that there was such a thing as second chances and new beginnings. He lay there – a man who had been raised by a self-centered dragon, abandoned, taken in by a guild with powerful ambitions, taught to hurt others to get to the top – and then everything had changed. A brat raised by another dragon had beaten some sense into him. The most intimidating midget in the world had given him a new home. And the girl he had once beaten and stapled to a tree had not only forgiven him, but learned to love him. He really did have something to fight for now. All those things that he had been trained to strive for seemed to pale in comparison to the new motivation he had. He still wanted to be the strongest, but not because he needed to be on top anymore. He wanted to have power to protect the people he loved. Levy. Lily. Fairy Tail. They had all redeemed him from a life of pain, struggle, and anger. She was right. He had changed. Or rather, the things that drove him had changed. He was guided by a new light now.

Lahar suddenly appeared in the clearing, walking up the hill toward them, "The judge has arrived."

Gajeel took a deep breath and sat up, feeling both refreshed and strangely peaceful, "Okay, let's get this over with then."

Levy got up and followed him as they made their way back down into the camp. The judge had apparently made himself at him in the eating area of the camp and had wasted no time in rearranging the area to meet his needs. The logs that had been scattered in a relatively circular pattern were now in rows, facing a large wooden chair set against the backdrop of the side canvas of the meal tent. Some of the workers had gathered on the rows – apparently this wasn't going to be a private hearing. It didn't really matter to Gajeel; they had all heard what had happened. Of course they knew that Gajeel was covering for Lily, but that shouldn't matter to most of them. His attention was drawn to the man sitting in the wooden chair. Instant recognition stopped him in his tracks.

The man in the chair, obviously the judge, raised his eyes to meet Gajeel's. His hair had changed, and his robes didn't hide the weight he had gained, but it was definitely the same person. The crooked nose, the beady eyes, the barely concealed sneer as he acknowledged that Gajeel had recognized him – it could only be him.

Shaemus Dreer.

He had once been a member of Phantom Lord himself – and had at one time been very close to Jose. Then, when Gajeel had joined the guild, Jose realized that Gajeel's powers suited his purposes perfectly. Where Dreer had once been the top pick for shaking down other rival guilds, Gajeel soon replaced him. Dreer's magical talents included a type of illusion; a gen-jutsu that allowed him to make other people see or hear things that weren't there. But his psychological attacks had taken a back seat to Gajeel's brute force terror. Jose knew that Dreer, though cunning and talented, was not impervious to harm. Gajeel on the other hand, was such a power house that very, very few mages could stand up to him even in an equal fight. Jose was of the opinion, that a physical beating would stick more in the minds of rival guild members than a bad nightmare. And so Dreer, humiliated and angry, left Phantom Lord before the guild war with Fairy Tail. This man, above all others, had every reason to hate Gajeel. He knew just from looking at him that Dreer had not lost any of his loathing for him.

And now, this man had the power to lock him up forever. "_How the hell did he become a judge in the service of the Magic Council? Didn't they know what kind of scum he was?" _Gajeel thought. On the other hand, he had been the same kind of scum just a year ago, but had changed. Dreer didn't seem like the type to change his ways though. He was a shrewd man, always scheming a way to be on the winning side. Perhaps he had decided that worming his way into the ranks of the Magic Council was the best method for him to protect himself – and what better way to have power over other mages than to masquerade as an enforcer of the law?

Gajeel shifted nervously in spite of himself and made his way to the front of the rows of seating. There were four chairs that had been pulled up in front of the rest, so he and Levy took two of them. Lily appeared from somewhere and hopped up into the seat next to Gajeel. It comforted him for some reason, to see the determined face of his partner next to him. Lahar stood a little off to the right side of where the three of them sat. If the fourth chair was meant for him, he was obviously not going to take it.

"Well, since everyone is here – let's begin with the proceedings," Dreer spoke, his voice smooth as oil. "Captain Lahar, your report first, if you please."

Obviously, Dreer was not going to let on that he knew Gajeel. That would make it seem like he was a biased judge, and there would be grounds for requesting a new one. That relieved Gajeel a little. There was no way that Dreer could bring up the past without letting it slip that they had known each other. But the Magic Council was well informed; surely they knew that Dreer had once been a member of Phantom Lord?

"Certainly, your Honor," Lahar replied, stepping out to stand in between the others and Dreer. "The Custody Enforcement Unit came here to apprehend one Nice Octavious, as I am sure you have read in your file. We have been observing him for some time and came here to finally take him into custody to answer for his crimes. We arrived only to discover that he had already expired. He was killed by Gajeel Redfox while attempting to murder Levy McGarden; both before you now," he said, gesturing to them. "Our investigation has turned up no evidence contradicting their report of the incident. Octavious' body was examined and his injuries were consistent with the cause of death described by these mages. We have also taken a sample of Levy McGarden's blood, and found trace amounts of poison still in it – that being the means by which Octavious attempted to murder her."

"Indeed," Dreer calmly replied. "Thank you, Captain – you may sit."

Lahar bowed slightly, but returned to his position standing off the side. He seemed to hold a wary attitude toward Dreer, though he remained respectful. His men stood a little behind him, in obvious support of their captain.

"And now, I would like to hear your account of what transpired here, Fairy Tail mages; starting with you, Miss McGarden."

Levy swallowed and rose to stand where Lahar had been. She obviously didn't care for the judge any more than Lahar did. Gajeel knew the man to be a devious snake from experience, but even the others could sense his Machiavellian attitude and distrusted him.

"We were hired by Mr. Branford to protect this archaeological site. There were artifacts that were being stolen by an unknown person or persons, so he wanted mages here to keep it from happening again. Gajeel and Pantherlily were the ones who really guarded the dig though – I was inside the ruins most of the time helping with the translation…I'm a Script Mage-"

"Yes, yes, very fascinating," Dreer cut her off with a raised hand. "Just tell me about the part where you were attacked by the other bad mage," he prompted, his voice rising and falling in a tone that one would speak to a child with.

Gajeel ground his teeth together, fixing a deadly glare at Dreer. Beside him, Lily crossed his arms over his chest and let out a low growl from him throat.

Levy squared her shoulders and continued, her tone noticeably clipped, "Certainly, your Honor. Four days ago, I went back to the ruins at dusk to retrieve some books I had left in the basement. I was attacked by Octavious. I fought back, but he sprayed some kind of poison in my face. It paralyzed my body first, and then slowly stopped my heart and lungs. I was mostly unconscious when Gajeel arrived. I somewhat remember him talking to Ovtavious, attempted to convince him to let me go – then I passed out. I'm told that my heart stopped for a brief time, and then they gave me an antidote that they found in Octavious' robes. It saved me, and I woke up in the ruins. Octavious was already dead at that point – I saw him slumped against the wall not far from me. It looked like he had been thrown over there and just didn't get up. Gajeel carried me out of the ruins and Lily pulled Octavious' body out after us. Is there anything else you would like to know?" she asked, slipping a little sarcasm into the question.

"Why no Miss McGarden, you may take your seat," Dreer replied, keeping his tone polite, but wearing a look of disdain. "Mr., ah, Pantherlily? Please step forward and tell me your version of this tale."

Lily jumped down from the chair and padded forward, approaching closer to Dreer than either Lahar or Levy had, forcing the man to look down his nose at him. "My 'version' of the story is thus: Gajeel and I had received notice that someone had broken into the storeroom and stolen some explosives, which had been used to create a disturbance before Levy's encounter with this Octavious fellow. We became worried when she did not come out of the ruins, so we went in after her. Gajeel went in through the ruins, I decided to seek out a different path and investigate the damage that had been caused earlier. I found another passage into the site that had been opened, and I made my way down into the underground chamber. It took me some time to find my way there. By the time I arrived to where the other two were, Ovtavious was leaning against the wall – dead – and Levy was almost gone. Gajeel instructed me to look through the potion master's robes to seek out an antidote. I found a small vial which I believed to be the cure and we gave it Levy. Then, as she said, she regained consciousness and we left the ruins. I brought Octavious' body out with me."

"You? You carried the body of a full grown man?" Dreer asked, his tone unconvinced.

Lily smirked at him, "I can carry a man Gajeel's size even in this small form for a time. However, at the time in question, I was not in this form."

Lily suddenly transformed to his full size. Standing as close as he was to Dreer, the man had to look up suddenly to track the movement and keep eye contact with the big cat. Dreer, for his part mostly kept his composure, but his wide eyes and slightly parted mouth betrayed his shock. Lily bared his teeth in a nasty grin, obviously delighted that he had managed to surprise and intimidate the judge.

"I see, most impressive," Dreer drawled, smoothing his robes and trying to appear unfazed. "Very well, you may take your seat as well. _Mister _Redfox," he began, drawing out the word for emphasis. "Won't you come and tell us your story?"

Gajeel's wariness had given way to utter contempt at this point. He got up, slowly and deliberately, keeping steady eye contact with Dreer the whole time. _"Do your worst,"_ he thought, as he stood before his former comrade.

"It's like the girl and the cat said," he said gruffly. "We went to find Levy and I went in through the front door. I found that bastard Octavious down there with her, she was already unconscious. I tried to talk the poison-bender down…get him to see that he had nowhere to go, no cards to play. He told me some story about wanting to revive the demon, and I told him it wasn't gonna happen. He took issue with that. About that time I realized Levy wasn't breathing right. He told me she was only unconscious, but I could tell she was dying. Once he knew that I knew, he threw her at me. I grabbed her and then knocked him against the wall before he could run. He apparently hit his head pretty hard 'cause he didn't get up after that. Then Lily came and we got the antidote to heal her. She woke up, we left, the end."

"I see. Explain to me how you hit the man. You said you caught her, but then you then ran toward him to hit him? And he just stayed there and faced you?"

"No I caught her and stayed put, I knocked him down with this," Gajeel extended a pole of metal from his fist, stopping it just above Dreer's left shoulder, next to his head. "See how that works?"

Dreer smiled at him, "I do. So you bludgeoned the man in the side of the head with a metal pole and then were surprised when he ended up dead?"

"No, I hit him in the shoulder and knocked him sideways. His head hitting the stone wall was what killed him, not the pole."

"Ah. And you took note of this while you were tending to your dying comrade?"

"_Of course not, I was only focused on her." _"I heard the crunch. He was alive in the air, and dead after he hit the wall."

"We confirmed as much," Lahar interjected. "The wound on the mage's head was on the right side, consistent with the blood stain on the wall. There was no blood anywhere else in the room, so we knew he was lying roughly on his right side and had been knocked from his left side to the wall to the right of him. There was a contusion on his left arm also suggesting that he had been pushed from that side."

"Thank you, Captain, very enlightening. Of course, all that proves is that is that the injuries line up with the story they are telling. Which proves nothing at all, since there are no witnesses besides these three and they could have made the whole thing up on the spot."

"With all due respect, if the forensics line up with the only eyewitness accounts, then I can see no other option but to accept the testimonies as truth and act accordingly," Lahar argued.

"I thank you sir, but may I remind you that I am the judge here and you a captain. I won't tell you how to do your job and you will not tell me how to do mine. There just so happens to be a history of violence for the accused, and it is that pattern which concerns me. Mr. Redfox, were you not once a member of Phantom Lord?"

Gajeel clenched his teeth; so he was going to make things difficult after all. Well, he expected that. At least he had one card to play. If Dreer was going to try and take him down, then Gajeel would pull him down right with him.

"You know I was, Shaemus – we both were."

"What?!" Lahar exclaimed.

Dreer ignored them both and continued, "And did you, or did you not participate in the guild war between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail?"

"That's not news. Everyone knows that I was a member of Phantom Lord and helped start the guild war," Gajeel kept his cool, telling the truth, but downplaying the significance.

"Yes. That was of course _after _I quit the guild," Dreer said, addressing more to Lahar. "I saw what that guild was doing and becoming and got out before things got out of hand. But _you _stayed, Redfox. And helped start a war. You employed some very interesting tactics to get Fairy Tail to respond. In fact, I believe some of those actions were taken against a Fairy Tail member who is here right now," he smiled, not at all nicely, toward Levy.

"None of this is relevant to the case at hand," Lahar insisted. "Phantom Lord was disbanded after that incident and Gajeel Redfox has joined Fairy Tail for whatever reason. Obviously his crimes against them were not so great as to stop them from accepting and befriending him."

"Truly puzzling," Dreer said, almost whimsically. "You attacked the guild, destroying most of the building. Then, when that failed to get them to react, you _hunted _three of their members and beat them senseless, going so far as to crucify them to a tree for all to see," he went on, his voice rising with each word. "You even branded Miss McGarden with Phantom Lord's symbol, did you not?"

Gajeel remained silent.

"Did you not?!" Dreer screeched, sounding half hysterical, as his beady eyes bugged from his head.

A voice from the crowd spoke up, startling Gajeel. He had almost forgotten about the onlookers from the camp.

"None of this has to do with what happened here!" someone shouted. It sounded like Kane. "This is a hearing, not a trial for something that may have happened in the past."

"Oh, it definitely happened," Dreer said, attempting to reign in his emotions. "I have it all right here," he said, tapping his temple.

An image suddenly appeared beside Dreer, a life-sized photo shimmering like a mirage. The picture cleared then began to move, and Gajeel was watching a moving playback of the events that happened a year ago, at the start of the guild war. It was from an aerial perspective, like someone had filmed him from the behind, perhaps from a rooftop. Dreer had been there the whole time, watching. And now his magic allowed him to project his memories of the event for all to see. He saw himself descend upon an unsuspecting Shadow Gear, dispatching them all, one at a time. He got Jet first, knocking him unconscious with the first blow. Drory turned and cast his Chain Plant to bind him, but Gajeel only leapt out of the way and kicked him in the gut, ending their fight. He watched himself stalk toward Levy, and though he knew full well what he had done to her, his stomach churned with anger against himself as he was forced to watch it again.

"Stop it!" Levy cried from behind him. The pain in her voice cut him to the quick. "What happened was in the past! Gajeel isn't like that anymore! He wouldn't do that!"

He could hear the tears in her voice, but he couldn't bring himself to look at her. A deafening silence had fallen on the crowd. No one spoke, no one moved; they only stared on at the soundless depiction of Gajeel's brutal attack.

"Perhaps you would like me to skip to the end," Dreer said, obviously enjoying the reaction he was getting.

The image shimmered again, shifting to another scene. Jet and Drory, with Levy hanging between them, secured to a tree with iron shackles. They hung there motionless, suspended only by their outstretched arms. It was an image of crucifixion, the worst kind of death Gajeel could think of. They weren't dead, but they would wish they were when they woke. Their shoulders had been dislocated from the weight of their own bodies, and their lungs could barely fill with oxygen as long as they remained suspended like that. Had they not been found, they would have died within hours. Levy's beautiful skin was marred with the still dripping symbol of Phantom Lord. A gasp from the crowd behind him reflected what he himself was feeling. Horror. Horror at what he had done to them. Horror that he could have even thought of something that disgusting.

"Please stop," Levy pleaded again, her voice little more than a quiet moan.

"Oh but there's more," Dreer's voice cut into his inner turmoil. "He almost killed another Fairy before he was stopped by the famous Salamander. Another minute, and you would have killed that blonde girl as well, am I right? But even all that is only the tip of the iceberg. Why, you were attacking other guild's members for months before that. As soon as you joined Phantom Lord, you were the instrument for keeping that guild on top. Remember that young kid from Titan Nose, oh and that lady from Gramlush that you practically butchered? The list goes on and on. You have been a very, very bad man Gajeel."

"You oughta know – I took your job!" Gajeel shouted at him, finally losing what was left of his self-control. "That's what this is about Shaemus! You might as well come clean. I replaced you at Jose's side. You wanted to be the number two guy, and I came in and proved I could do a better job than you could – for whatever the hell that was worth. Yes, I did some pretty despicable things. Things I'll never forget as long as I live. But I left that life behind me! I started over. I found forgiveness with Fairy Tail and I'm NEVER going to back! So if you're gonna put me in chains, you better do it now. I'll go to the Magic Council and I will pay whatever penalty asked of me for what I did as a member of Phantom. Anything. Just shut off your damned memory projections and let's get this over with!"

Dreer laughed, a cold cackling sound. "Alright Redfox. Alright. If that's what you want." The images beside him dissolved back into thin air, and suddenly, the silence felt even heavier. "I hereby sentence you, with the authority vested in me by the Magic Council, to five years of service in the Fioran silver mines. Say goodbye to your 'friends', the Enforcement officers will take you into custody."

"No!" Lily exclaimed, but his voice was drowned out by the angry murmurs of everyone in the camp.

"Wait just a second," Lahar protested. "This was supposed to be a hearing, not a trial for past issues. You don't have the authority to be the judge, jury, and executioner when he has had no real trial or representation. This must be brought before Magic Council! It's outrageous!"

Dreer turned on Lahar, seething, "Listen Captain, you can protest all you want. I just sentenced him, and as a circuit judge, I have the right to do that."

"Not without a jury! And besides, I'm not even sure you're qualified to judge him at all since you have had a relationship with him in the past that has obviously colored your judgment."

"He's right! You planned on condemning him from the beginning," Levy cried, jumping up out of her seat and approaching Dreer. "You can't do this, you have no right!"

"I have _every _right," Dreer countered, standing himself, "and if you don't sit back down, I'll hold you in contempt of court!"

"What court?!" Lily shouted, making himself heard above everyone. "This is not a court! You're a thug with an agenda, masquerading as a judge out to do 'good'. But this is clearly just a personal vendetta!"

In the midst of all the shouting and angry mutters from the onlookers, Gajeel only stood there, shaken to the core by what had happened. He was angry and hurt, and he wanted to fight Dreer and tear him limb from limb. But his past sins had all been thrown back into his face, and wouldn't he only be proving that he hadn't changed at all if he attacked Dreer? No doubt that's what the other man was counting on. Dreer stood facing him, clearly prepared for Gajeel to attack. No. He wouldn't give him the satisfaction. He'd have to figure another way out of this. Even standing in the middle of the din around him, he forced himself to keep it together.

"ENOUGH!"

A booming voice cut through the whole crowd, utterly silencing everyone. Gajeel turned, catching Levy's eye first. She looked like she had nearly jumped out of her skin. Lily was standing beside her – grinning madly. Recognition dawned. He knew that voice. It could only be one person. Relief all at once flooded through his veins. Yes. Good. Everything would be set right now. The crowd, which had exited the benches and massed behind him suddenly parted. Two figures passed between them. The one leading swept past Levy and Pantherlily, stopping next to Gajeel.

Gajeel looked down at the man beside him. "Master."

"Shut up, brat," Makarov growled from beside him. "I've gotta clean up your mess."

* * *

><p><strong>K.K: Well, things are getting interesting. I couldn't let the story draw to an end without a little excitement, now could I? Well, I'm sure Master Makarov will fix everything and all will be well. Probably. ^_- As always, read and review. I hope this chapter answered some of your questions, Jun'Hee Hyoma Hayagriva. I intentionally portrayed Phantom Lord as a dark guild, even though they were recognized by the Magic Council. A dark guild is one that is not recognized by the Council and has also committed crimes. Phantom Lord (particularly Gajeel) did in fact commit several crimes in their attack against Fairy Tail and their start of the war. They were just sneaky about it. I may have perhaps embellished a little on their history, but that's my prerogative. Gajeel is a very dynamic character to write, because he has had a full history. He started as bad guy who did some pretty horrible things (to Shadow Gear and let's not forget he was seconds from killing Lucy before Natsu showed up), and then progressed into a likeable and sometimes hysterical character. I really liked him from the beginning, even when he was a jerk, but that doesn't excuse what he did. I'm painting a picture of him that makes him seem pretty bad at the outset, because I think that makes his transformation all the more remarkable. I agree with you though, that Lily has also done some bad things in the past. But that is part of what makes their relationship so great, they understand each other. The Council would not favor Gajeel's record any more than Lyon's - but they also seem to take into account present actions as well. So, hopefully that helps. :) I hope everyone enjoyed this. Only one more chapter left...even though I really don't want it to end. *tear*<strong>


	13. Together

Dragon Script

Chapter 13: Together

Levy stood in the clearing between Dreer's chair and where Gajeel remained standing, shock still evident on his face. This couldn't be happening. Five years? When they had just begun a relationship? Dreer couldn't do this. It was unethical and she was sure he did not have the authority. She vaguely heard Pantherlily's voice beside her, rage evident in every word as he loosed his fury at the so-called judge.

"What court?! This is not a court! You're a thug with an agenda, masquerading as a judge out to do 'good'. But this is clearly just a personal vendetta!"

She couldn't tear her eyes off of Gajeel though. The pain and confusion on his face was unbearable to watch. He was humiliated and broken; even his shoulders were slumped under the invisible burden of his past. This was what he had been trying to tell her earlier. He had been trying to forget the past, and it had been thrown back up in his face. It broke her heart to see the look of regret in his eyes. He just stood there, head bowed, staring at his hands. She wanted to run to him and comfort him. She wanted to turn on Dreer and pummel him into the ground. She wanted to make all the people gathered around them disappear. She just wanted this nightmare to be over.

"ENOUGH!"

The booming voice startled her so badly she jumped. The sound was terrifying and the very air around them began to feel heavier. She wheeled around to find the source of the roar, and caught a glimpse of Pantherlily's face. He was...grinning. It was a look of utter triumph. What had she missed? Then the crowd parted and she suddenly understood. Her look of fear and confusion melted into a smile of her own. Saved. They were saved. Gajeel was saved.

"Master," she whispered, relief washing over her in waves.

Master Makarov walked toward them, his face a cold mask of barely controlled anger. Though he stood shorter than all, his presence made everyone in the area cower and take a few steps back. His fists were clenched at his side and his eyes were shadowed under bushy furrowed brows. He stalked into the clearing and stood beside Gajeel.

Gajeel repeated her quiet words in acknowledgment, "Master."

"Shut up, brat. I've gotta clean up your mess."

Levy almost laughed at his response, but her attention toward Dreer. She smiled a knowing smile at him. _"You're gonna get it now, you snake."_

She backed away and took her seat beside Pantherlily. Gajeel remained standing with Master at his side. He was still reeling from the effects of the trial, but she could see that his shoulders had squared some.

Dreer's confidence seemed to have shattered, but he remained indignant, "What is this?"

"This is the beginning of the end for you my boy," Makarov growled. "You have tried to smear the reputation of a member of my guild. You have committed crimes in order to pursue your revenge against him. On top of that you have attempted to punish him using authority that is not yours!" his voice grew steadily louder as he laid down the accusations. "You have attacked one of my children in the most under-handed way imaginable and you will know the consequences! Yajima!"

Levy saw another man approach the clearing. Somehow she hadn't noticed him when Master Makarov first appeared. She smiled in recognition as the small old man stepped up. She knew him well. He had once been a member of Fairy Tail when the Master was young. He was also a retired Council member. He stood beside Gajeel and patted his arm, whispering for him to take a seat. Gajeel hesitantly obeyed and returned to his seat beside her.

"Shaemus Dreer, you are hereby under arrest for the suspected murder of Timone Barker," the old man calmly stated. "Captain Lahar, if you would be so kind as to take this man into custody."

"Certainly sir, with pleasure," Lahar responded readily.

"Wait a second!" Dreer protested. "This is absurd. I am the circuit judge for the province appointed by the Magic Council, I have the papers here! I haven't killed anyone. And Yajima isn't even an active member of the Council anymore. By what authority can you have me placed under arrest?"

Dreer seemed to have regained some confidence and stepped forward to point a chubby finger at the old man.

"Sit down!" Makarov roared, and whether by magic or sheer presence, he seemed to grow larger.

Dreer scurried back to his seat and quickly planted his rear in it. Yajima produced a scroll from behind his back and stepped forward to where Dreer sat cowering.

"This is a letter from the Magic Council granting me the authority to bring you in. It seems with all this business with that Dark Mage Zeref, the Council is stretched thin enough to give an old man like me some leeway," he chucked good-naturedly; then turned serious. "That's how you pulled this whole thing off in the first place isn't it? You found out that a circuit judge had been notified of a small hearing involving Gajeel Redfox. That sort of information is easy to come by since you _are_ in fact a judge working for the Council. You wanted the case for yourself, but it was out of your jurisdiction. So, you took advantage of the fact that the Council is too scattered to put guard escorts with their circuit judges anymore. You killed him with no witnesses, a feat I'm sure you're more than capable of with your prior history, and took his place. All to get to Redfox. Am I getting warm, sonny?"

"You can't prove any of that," Dreer said, but he didn't sound confident anymore.

"Lahar," Yajima repeated, before turning to address the crowd. "Let it be known that Shaemus Dreer is under arrest for suspected murder of a fellow judge. His actions and ruling here shall be disregarded by the Magic Council. Gajeel Redfox will be immediately acquitted of all the charges laid against him of murder and is free to return to his guild with his Master."

Lahar motioned and his guards stepped forward, seized Dreer by the arms and dragged him away. The Captain turned toward Yajima, "I'll have two of them take him back to town and place him in local custody until I can have more men come for him. I don't have enough manpower right now to spare them from this site, especially with a demon sealed here."

"I understand," the old man replied. "So, what are they going to have you do about the demon?"

"Blow up the ruins and bury her under the rubble again. It seems the safest course of action. The Council will give the archaeologists one more week to remove any artifacts they can find and make some more recordings."

"That was generous of them."

"Well, this place certainly does contain a lot of information about the Origin of Magic. It would be a shame to level it without learning as much as we can."

"Hmm, I'm glad they are not messing around with this though," Makarov muttered. "We have enough on our plates without having to worry about a demon threat, especially if she's as powerful as the legend says."

Levy chose that moment to approach the men, "Master, how do you know all of this?"

He smiled at her, "Is that obvious?" He glanced behind her and winked.

"I told him," Lily's voice came from beside her leg. "I left the other night and went into town to contact the guild. I gave the Master all the information we had at this point and told him the truth about what happened with Octavious. He told me he needed two days to get what he needed. You didn't arrive a moment too soon, Master."

"I contacted Yajima and we set out to find the circuit judge. When the man turned up dead, we followed the trail to Dreer. He must have gotten rusty with covering his tracks since leaving Phantom Lord, it was easy to find out that it was him. We decided to let him play out his charade in order to catch him in the act and discover his objectives – though we suspected that he was after Gajeel all along."

"You accomplished all that in two days? I'm impressed, Master," Levy praised him. "So what happens now?" She cast a worried glace at Gajeel, who remained uncharacteristically silent during all this.

Makarov gave the Dragon Slayer a sympathetic look and shook his head, "We will go home now. I trust that your mission has been fulfilled?"

Levy thought about that a moment, "Well, we got the "bandits" and all the translating that needed to be finished is done now. I guess we did complete the assignment."

"Good, the next train out of here leaves in two hours; can you be ready by then?"

"Yes Master," Lily answered. "I'll pack our things since I've already said my goodbyes. Is that alright with you?" he asked her.

"Sure Lily, thank you," Levy said, giving him an appreciative smile. She was going to have to sincerely thank him later for everything that he had done to make things right today.

Lily disappeared and Levy turned to Gajeel. He was standing very still, but he raised his head and looked at her when she approached.

"Are you okay?" she asked, reached up and touching his arm.

"I'll be fine. Let's get ready to get out of here."

His voice was rough with emotion, which he was trying hard to mask with his usual gruffness. It wasn't fooling Levy though. He was broken on the inside, she could tell from the look in his eyes. She had never seen him like this before. It almost reminded her of the expression on his face the first time he had saved her from Laxus, when he had walked away after absorbing a bolt of lightning meant for her. This was much worse though. His dark crimson eyes were lost in shadows; his brows drawn together in frustration and pain.

"C'mon, let's say goodbye," she suggested, gently pulling him over to where a group of their friends had gathered.

The twins and their parents were standing with Henry. Levy could tell that talking with them after they had seen all those images was the last thing Gajeel wanted to do. But he needed to at least say his goodbyes before they left. He stood next to her, not quite looking any of them in the eye. Levy broke the awkward silence first.

"I'm glad that's over with," she said, breathing a little sigh.

Leah responded first, "I agree. That was awful for us to go through; I can't imagine what it must have been like for you. That Dreer fellow was a real nasty sort – I can't believe that he did such a horrible thing just to get back at Gajeel."

Gajeel remained silent, only now he was blatantly staring at his feet. Levy struggled for an appropriate response. Kane saved her the trouble.

"Listen, Gajeel," he paused and waited for the man to look up at him. When he didn't, Kane continued, "Whatever that bastard pulled up from your past, you have to let it go. We've all made mistakes, some big, some small, but that's not what matters."

"What matters is what you do now," Nero finished for him. "You're not that guy anymore, so don't let him get to you."

"That's right," Henry added. "You cannot live your life in shame son, that's no way to live at all."

Gajeel finally looked up. Levy stared at his face, noting the small changes. He was still caught up in inner turmoil, but he managed to give them a small smile of gratitude. She thought she saw traces of wonderment there, as if he could not believe they had forgiven him.

"I thought you might not want to have anything to do with me after you had to see all that," he admitted. "Thanks for…for what you said."

"We have all grown fond of you Fairy Tail mages," Leah said, smiling at him. "Your reputation as a rough bunch may have some merit, but you have good hearts."

"We can't thank you enough for all you've done for us," said Henry. "I must thank you, for both the protection you offered Gajeel, and the aid you gave us in deciphering the runes, Levy. Thanks to you we have a new language to record."

Levy smiled up at him, "We were happy to do it. I have to admit, I really wish we didn't have to leave so soon. You have all become like family to me over this past week. I had so much fun working with you all and sharing in your efforts here. Thank you for being so kind to all of us."

"If we run into any more trouble with translating ancient script, we know who to call on first," Nero said.

"That's for sure. We'll have to make sure it's in a dangerous location though, so Gajeel won't get bored – I'm sure he'll want to be coming with you on your missions from now on," Kane commented, winking at her.

Levy blushed, "It sounds great to me. Just let me know if you ever need any help with anything, translating or otherwise."

"We will certainly do that, my dear," Henry said. "I hate to cut this short, but there are some important matters I must discuss with Captain Lahar. I wish you both, and Lily, the best of luck. You have been a blessing to all of us and I hope that our paths will cross again soon."

"Us too," Levy answered, giving him a quick hug.

Henry shook Gajeel's hand and turned to leave, instigating the procession of goodbyes and hugs with all who remained. Gajeel shook Brock and Nero's hand and accepted a friendly man-hug from Kane. Levy almost laughed out loud as she watched him awkwardly lean in and clap the other man hard on the shoulder. Oh if only Lily was here to watch this. As far as she knew, Lily was the only male who Gajeel ever openly showed affection to, and the fact that he was a cat somehow made it seem completely acceptable. But here was Gajeel accepting a hug – if you could call it that – from another man his own age. How far he had come. She gave both of the twins hugs goodbye, giggling when Nero gave her a tight bear squeeze. Meanwhile Leah had captured Gajeel in her own motherly embrace, which he returned much less awkwardly than her son's. Sara and Elaina joined them to say their goodbyes as well.

Gajeel and Levy were about to head to their tents to give Lily a hand when James appeared suddenly. Levy greeted him politely, and kept half an eye on Gajeel as she did so. He behaved somewhat coolly to the other man, but was not hostile.

"I wanted to say goodbye before you left. I'm sorry about the big mess this all turned out to be, and I'm glad you're both alright."

"Thanks James, we appreciate that. I'm sorry that things turned out this way too. I hope that you will be able to discover much more about these ruins before they have to be demolished," Levy said.

"Yeah, me too. Well, goodbye Levy. It was good to work with you," he said, shaking her hand. "You too," he glanced at Gajeel, but didn't make a move to touch him, which was wise, because he probably wouldn't have accepted it.

As he turned to leave, Levy cast a long look up at Gajeel, holding the gaze until he looked back at her.

"What?"

"Nothing. I'm just glad to be headed home."

"Yeah, me too. I would be happy to never come here again."

"You mean, to these people?" she asked.

"No, they're fine. It's just, a lot happened here this week – a lot of it that I don't care to remember."

Levy felt her eyes water a little and looked away, blinking back tears. How could he only focus on the bad things, when they had also…

"What's wrong?" his voice was concerned now.

"It's nothing."

"Levy," he persisted, putting his hands on her upper arms and bending down so he could look at her face. "Tell me."

"It's just…this place. This is where we shared our first experiences as a couple. You gave me our first kiss here. You saved me here. You held me in your arms all night after that. This is a very special place to me now. Yes, some bad things happened, but I think a lot more good came out of it. To me, the good far outweighs the bad."

Gajeel sighed, pulling her against him in a tight hug, "You're right. I'm sorry Levy, I didn't mean what I said. It's just, with all those…images…fresh in my head I guess I'm just thinking about the bad things and not the good ones. Thanks for reminding me though. I was…I was kind of worried," his voice trailed off.

"Worried about what?" she asked, although she thought she already knew.

"I thought that…you might not want to stay with me."

She sighed then, pressing her face into the familiar fabric covering his chest, and deeply inhaled the scents that were unique to him – leather, salt, earth, and something a little spicy, like pine or cedar. Her arms were wrapped around him as far as they would reach, and her hands were fisted in the material on his back. She could feel his heartbeat thundering loudly beneath her ear, proving how afraid he really was.

"Gajeel," she began, choosing her words carefully. "Part of what makes me love you so much, is the fact that before you came to us in Fairy Tail, you weren't a good person. I don't think you were evil either, but I know that you did things that were wrong because you were told to and you maybe even enjoyed them sometimes. But when you came to Fairy Tail, and you were slowly accepted into the guild, you completely changed. Looking at you every day proves to me that there is hope for everyone. People have the power to become something more than what they have been taught to be, they just need to be given the chance. Maybe, if Master had not saved you when he did, you might have fallen into total darkness. But you didn't. You came to us. You saved me. You've atoned for your past. And because of all of that, I've fallen in love with you. When I see you, my heart skips a beat – not in fear anymore, but in excitement and nervousness. Sometimes you drive me crazy and I just want to knock you upside the head…"

"Or the face…with your purse," he commented wryly.

She giggled, "That too. But most of the time, I just want to be near you. I know how broken you must feel right now, but even so, being here in your arms makes me feel safe and protected and sure of myself. I want you to feel the same way. I would be happy if I could give even a small part of that back to you."

"You do, Levy. You do," he whispered, pulling her even tighter against him in a fierce embrace.

There was no more need for words. She knew that he would still need more time to fully recover from what happened today, but he was well on his way. They would both be alright. As they drew apart from each other, Levy looked deep into his eyes and saw a fire there that she had never seen before. It was not the same as the flames that lit his crimson gaze when he was angry or about to do battle with a worthy opponent. It was a brighter, stronger light in them now. It was hope. And as he returned her gaze, she saw in that stare all the love in this man's heart was burning brightly for her. It made her want to look away. She didn't deserve so much. But she was only drawn deeper, and she found herself closing the small distance between them as she went up on her toes to reach him. She captured his lips in a chaste kiss, sweet and short, but it still communicated everything that she needed to tell him. He smiled at her when they broke away, a little tug in the corner of his mouth that eventually stretched into a full grin, sharp teeth gleaming in the afternoon sun. That grin, which some would consider unnerving when directed at them, only made Levy's stomach do little flipflops. Oh how she loved this man.

"C'mon," he said suddenly, still smiling at her, "Let's find Lily. He's probably elbow deep in your unmentionables by now."

Levy gasped, "Oh I didn't even think of that!"

"Eh, who cares – it's not like we haven't seen them before," he replied with a wink.

She swatted his arm before taking off to save the cat from his frilly fate.

* * *

><p>After gathering their supplies and saying a few more goodbyes to the workers, Levy, Gajeel, Lily, and Master Makarov set off down the trail that would lead them to the town and the train station. Yajima had stayed behind at the ruins to oversee the developments there and learn more about what they had discovered. As they walked down the vaguely familiar path, Levy was amazed at how beautiful the road through the woods actually was in daylight, bordered with flowering trees and weeping willows. She had barely been able to see her hand in front of her face the night they had first arrived at the ruins. It had been barely a week and yet it seemed so long ago to her now. So much had happened.<p>

They made good time to the town, which proved important because they almost missed the train, for it departed half an hour earlier than they had thought. Master Makarov had insisted that they buy tickets for a closed compartment car in which they could freely talk about all that had transpired without the risk of prying ears. He asked them to relate the whole story of what had happened over the last week to him. So for the next several hours, Levy told him everything, with Gajeel and Pantherlily filling in all the parts that only they had witnessed. Amidst many interruptions from Master and exclamations of unbelief, they finally finished the tale.

Master sat across from the three of them on a sticky red leather bench, stroking his mustache thoughtfully and frowning. Levy and Gajeel sat with Lily in between them. They elected not to tell Master right away of the relationship that had blossomed this week, feeling it was impertinent to the story.

Finally, Makarov broke the long silence, "This is a lot to take in. But there is very little information that we can actually act on. We know that the situation with Sidonia will be taken care of by the Magic Council – they have very little patience for threats of this magnitude and I have no doubt she will be sealed away effectively. We are still hunting for Zeref and Acnologia, but there has been no sign of them since Tenrou Island. What you have discovered about the history of magic is probably the most important find of all. There have been many theories about the origin and what you have described does seem to be aligned with the teachings of a little known school of thought that does believe that dragons were the start of it all. The inscriptions on the walls of the ruins, if believed, may bring the world of magic and the wielders of magic into a deeper understanding of each other."

"But do you think that what was written about the Dragon Slayers is true?" Levy asked.

"That is the most puzzling piece of all. If what was written is accurate, then we know that there are four Dragon Slayers…and three of them are members of Fairy Tail."

"That awfully coincidental, don't ya think?" Gajeel commented.

"I don't believe in coincidences," said Lily. "Something about our guild has drawn these individuals together, and if that is true, then the fourth may not be far away. Perhaps we should look for him."

"Perhaps," said Makarov thoughtfully. "Or maybe he will just come to us, like the three of you already have," he said, aiming his comment to Gajeel. "But there is something more. While you've been away this past week, I heard a rumor about an upcoming event that should interest all of you."

"What's that?" Levy asked.

"A Grand Magic Tournament, designed to allow all the registered guilds in Fiore to compete against each other in a fair test of their skills and strength."

Levy noticed Gajeel's eyes light up, "Sounds great."

"There's more. There is a local guild near us known as Sabertooth…have you heard of them?"

"I've never had dealings with them personally, but I have heard the name. They're not very strong." Gajeel said.

"True, but they have just recruited some new members, two of which should be of interest to you."

"Why is that?" Levy asked.

"Because they claim to be Dragon Slayers."

"What?!" Gajeel exclaimed.

"But how can there be two if the ruins said there is only one other Dragon Slayer?" Levy asked.

"Who knows? Perhaps they are imposters. Perhaps they use a dragon lacrima like the one that was implanted in Laxus. But we need to test the waters to see if these claims are accurate, and I can think of no better way than to compete against them in the Tournament."

"Is it confirmed then?" Levy asked.

"It is in the developmental stages, but I would be interested in seeing it get on its feet. Especially since there is talk of a large monetary award for whoever wins the Tournament," Master said, eyes gleaming.

Levy and Gajeel shared a look; leave it to Master to be in it for the money.

"Well, I suppose we better knuckle down on our training then," Lily said, always the practical one.

"I have no doubt that we will come out on top," Makarov stated. "We have been blessed with the strongest mages in all of Fiore, and I know our Fairy spirit will lead us to victory!"

"_He means lead us to the cash prize," _Levy thought to herself, smiling and shaking her head.

"Well maybe these other two "Dragon Slayers" can help us figure out what going on with our dragons," Gajeel stated quietly, a tiny bead of hope creeping into his voice.

Levy smiled at him. He would never admit it, but he did really miss Metalicana. She yawned, resisting the urge to lean on his shoulder. Train rides made her sleepy and it was still an hour before supper was served in the dining car. Sensing her mood, Lily stood up and crawled into her lap, leaning back against her chest as she wrapped her arms around him. She leaned her head against the divider that separated them from the rest of the train and slowly let sleep claim her. She felt Gajeel move next to her and cracked an eye open to see him pull his feet up on the bench, resting his back against the window, just as he had when they had ridden out here. She closed her eyes again, but she could feel him watching her even as she dozed off again.

She never heard Master and Gajeel speaking in hushed tones, and only woke when a train attendant knocked on the door to announce that supper was being served.

They made their way to the dining car and ordered from the menu, asking each other what they thought looked good. As they were waiting to be served their meals, Levy noticed something must have happened when she had been asleep. Master kept looking at her strangely and Gajeel was extremely interested in his glass of water, staring at it like it held all the answers to the universe. Lily was as oblivious to the answer as she was, but the odd behavior was certainly not lost to him. She broke the awkward silence by asking Gajeel if he wanted her to make some iron for him to eat. She had thought the question to be completely innocent, as Gajeel ate iron as much as he ate regular food, and had not consumed any for some time. Instead, Master Makarov had hid a chuckle into his pint of beer and Gajeel had just stared at her in confusion.

"What?!" she finally demanded, determined to solve this.

"Cooking for your man already, Levy?" Master asked by way of explanation.

She paled and then blushed fiercely as she put it together. Master knew they were a couple now, Gajeel must have told him while she had been sleeping.

Beside her, Pantherlily gave a quiet chuckle of his own, having arrived at the same conclusion she had, "Well you have to admit, making a meal of metal for him does take a lot of stress out of the meal planning."

"What meal planning?" she demanded. "We're a couple now; we're not married!"

Now it was Gajeel's turn to lose all his color, causing both Makarov and Lily to dissolve into snickers, and Levy to want to bury her head under the table.

Finally, Master composed himself and addressed them seriously, "I _am _happy for both of you, though of all the members of our guild, you two were the last as I figured as starting a relationship. Amazing how fate draws us all together."

Levy smiled shyly at Gajeel and then responded, "I couldn't agree more.

* * *

><p>It was almost two in morning before the train pulled into Magnolia Station. Everyone was exhausted, even though most of them had slept on the train. Master returned to the guild and Gajeel and Lily walked Levy to her dorm. It seemed strange now, knowing that she was home and would be sleeping alone in her old bed again. She was too shy to invite Gajeel to stay the night with her and he had saved her from asking by mentioning that he wished to check on his apartment. They had kissed goodnight in front of her room and she promised to see them both at the guild in the morning.<p>

Despite being so tired, Levy slept fitfully that night. She missed the warmth and comfort of knowing someone was there next to her, wrapped up in Gajeel's protective arms. She cuddled herself around her pillow and finally fell asleep just before dawn. It wasn't until eleven when she finally woke up. Cursing under her breath, she showered, dressed, and ate a dry breakfast from what was left in her cupboards. Some of the food she had bought at the market the day before they left had spoiled, but that didn't really bother her. Afraid that she was late to meet Gajeel, though they had not stipulated a time to go to the guild, she rushed out and headed for Fairy Tail.

When she arrived, she found that she had beaten him there after all. Instead of him and Lily greeting her, she was met by Lucy first. She embraced the other girl, thankful that it was her that she had met at the door. Lucy asked her about her trip and Levy told her it had been amazing, promising to give all the incredible details later. She spotted Jet and Drory walking toward her and excused herself, asking Lucy to wait a few minutes. The Celestial Spirit mage also saw the other members of Shadow Gear approaching, and remembering how things had been left before the trip, nodded her head and gave Levy an encouraging smile.

Levy squared her shoulders and walked up to Jet and Drory, giving them a tentative smile, "Hi guys."

Before she could get any further into the speech that she had worked out to repair their friendship, the other two boys dissolved into hysterical tears. Quite stunned by their behavior – though it really wasn't out of the ordinary – she tried to comfort them as their plaintive wails disturbed the rest of the guild and caused a scene. Finally, when they had brought themselves under control, Jet spoke clearly.

"We're so sorry, Levy. We shouldn't have said any of the things that we said to you."

"We were just jealous," Drory added candidly.

Levy smiled as she thought about the words Gajeel had said to her. _"Jealousy can make a man do some pretty stupid things." _"Guys it's okay – I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have run away and I then not told you where we were going. I don't want anything to ever happen to our friendship okay?"

"Us either," said Jet.

"We're sorry for calling Gajeel all those names too…he's been a lot better since he joined the guild. It's just, we had a hard time accepting him after what happened, and neither of us could understand why you could forgive him so easily, much less like him as a friend."

Levy smiled, "I understand how you felt," she let out a breath. "But there's something I need to tell you…"

* * *

><p>Gajeel arrived at the guild at almost noon. He and Lily had slept in late that morning, and Gajeel had almost not slept at all. He missed the smell of strawberry cream shampoo and the feeling of soft smooth skin under his hands. He took a long hot shower, enjoying the feeling of being truly clean after a week of cold outdoor showers. He changed into clean clothes and attempted to tame his wild hair back a little with a bandana. Despite his lack of sleep, he did feel invigorated, though he was absolutely starving.<p>

Lily seemed refreshed as well as the two of them made their way to the guild to see their friends and get some food. When they arrived, the guild was quiet, despite there being many people there. He spotted Gray, Lucy, Natsu, and Erza sitting at a table to his right. They were speaking in whispers and glancing toward another group of people standing to the left of the doors and further into the room. There was Levy talking to Jet and Drory.

He wasn't sure if his presence would make things better or worse, but he wanted to at least make peace with the two of them. He had decided that he needed to atone for what he had done to the people in this guild. He had obviously accomplished that with Levy, but he had made very little effort with Jet and Drory; and one other member he had hurt badly, he thought as his eyes slid to the table at the right of him again.

Lily spoke from beside him, "I think you should go to her. You can make your intentions known and still keep things civil with them."

"I don't know, remember what happened last time?"

"All you can do it try."

"'kay, but I'm blaming you if this goes wrong," he threatened jokingly.

That decided, he walked over to where Levy was talking to the other members of her team. As he approached, the look on Jet's face confirmed he already knew the truth. He was not hostile, but still a little unbelieving. Gajeel put the other man's questions to bed by resting his arm around Levy's shoulders as he came to stand beside her. She squeaked, but did not pull away. Gajeel fixed Jet and Drory with a level gaze.

"Oi. I know you two don't have much reason to like me. I've done some really bad things to you and I'm…sorry," he tasted the word as he said it. It was unfamiliar and he didn't much like the way it sounded on his tongue, but he went on anyway. "I'll never raise my hand to Fairy Tail again, you should know that by now. I don't know if you'll ever call me a friend and to be honest it wouldn't bother me if you didn't."

He paused when Levy elbowed him lightly in the ribs.

"But it wouldn't bother me if did either," he said with a little huff. "Also, I don't have any intention to break up your team. But Levy's with me now; and it's up to her if she wants to take any more missions with me." His voice lowered some more as he stared at the two men, obviously dumbfounded that he was saying so much to them, "And I better not _ever_ see the two of you make her run off and cry again, you follow me?"

They nodded at him, still shocked, but not angry. They seemed to realize the depths of his feelings for Levy. They couldn't be happy about it, but they seemed to understand that her body and her heart were safe with him – he would protect both.

"I don't think anyone has to worry about that," Levy said, easing the tension with her sweet voice. She ducked out from under his arm, but caught it again when it fell to his side, "The bonds of true friendship can never be broken, only tested and strengthened by trial."

He looked down at her, "That was…"

"Really cheesy," Jet finished for him.

She scowled at both of them, "It was a quote from a book!"

"A really cheesy book," Jet teased, causing Dory and Gajeel to laugh in spite of himself.

Before Levy could launch into a tirade against them all, Gajeel extracted himself from her grasp reluctantly, "I have to go do something; I'll be right back."

Levy gave him a puzzled look but nodded. He turned and made his way over the tables where Natsu and the others were sitting. They each gave him curious glances as he pulled a chair up to their table and sat down next to Lucy.

"Oi what's up with you, Metalhead?" Natsu asked, in his normal aggravating abrupt way.

Biting down a retort, Gajeel turned to the object of his visit; Lucy.

"I need to tell you something," he began, feeling totally lame and fighting the embarrassment on his face.

Her eyes were large and blue as she looked back at him, but the fear that normally lurked there when she was near him was absent.

"What is it, Gajeel?" she asked hesitantly.

He scrubbed at the back of his hair, trying to find the right words, "So, since I came here and became a member of Fairy Tail…I haven't really ever apologized for what I did to you back in the guild war…"

You could have heard a pin drop at the table. Erza had a small smile on her face, but you could have knocked Natsu and Gray over with a feather. Lucy was obviously surprised, but her face was soft when she offered him a small smile of encouragement.

"Anyways, I'm sorry for what happened and whatever you want me to do to make it up to you I'll do. Within reason," he added, when he thought of all the things she could make him do. The girl had a crazy streak in her that rivaled Natsu's sometimes.

She only shook her head and smiled a little wider at him. Leaning forward, she gave his shoulder a little pat, "There's nothing I want you to do. Hurting you wouldn't change what happened and it wouldn't make me feel better. You've changed a lot since you came here and that makes me happy," she paused. "Maybe there is one thing though…"

"What?" he asked, a little warily.

Lucy gestured behind him, to where Levy was laughing with Jet and Drory like nothing had happened, "That little blue haired girl is one of my best friends, take good care of her," she said with a wink.

Gajeel smirked, "_That _I can do."

"Um, I don't get it. What's this got to do with Levy?" Natsu asked suddenly.

Gray facepalmed, "You are _such _an idiot."

"I am not! Now someone tell me what the hell is going on!" Natsu shouted, threatening Gray with a raised fist.

Erza answered him, "I believe that Lucy is reminding Gajeel to take care of Levy because they are now a couple."

Natsu's face turned beat red as he stared at Gajeel, "You're DATING Levy?!"

Gajeel bared his teeth and hissed at him, "Keep your voice down Salamander, you don't have to tell the whole guild!"

"But…but…how?!"

"Because I asked her, you freaking moron!" Gajeel ground out; then smirked when a thought occurred to him, "You jealous, Flame Brain?"

"Why would I be jealous of you, Iron Breath?"

Gajeel leaned in close to him across the table, almost hitting their heads together and smiling wickedly the whole time, "Because I have a girlfriend and you don't."

"I could get a girlfriend any time any place if I wanted to," Natsu shot back.

He was clearly just thinking up retorts off the cuff and not considering what he was saying exactly.

_Opportunity knocks. _"Could you really? Alright then, prove it. Get a girlfriend right now."

Natsu, without the slightest hesitation, turned to Lucy, "Hey Lucy! Go out on a date with me tonight!"

Lucy's face went completely pink up to her ears, "Wha..what? You can't just go about asking girls to go on dates with you just because someone dared you to! You don't even like me…you're just asking me because you're jealous!" she was getting angrier as she continued.

"No I'm not, I like you Lucy. I sleep at your house all the time! Come on, go on a date with me!" Natsu was pleading now.

Gajeel raised an eyebrow ridge over the sleeping comment and wisely decided to make his retreat at that moment. He backed away from the terrifying roar of Lucy's full rage exploding.

"Don't go saying things like that without explaining! You don't sleep at my house because I invited you…I just wake up all the time with you and Happy under my covers!"

"That doesn't sound much better," Erza observed.

Juvia had materialized at the table sometime during the excitement and was commenting on how she wouldn't mind it if Gray-sama crawled into bed with her, which earned her a horrified rebuttal from Gray claiming he would never do that.

As Gajeel retreated further from them, Levy appeared at his elbow, "You didn't have anything to do with that, did you? I thought I heard you challenge Natsu to ask someone out."

He turned an impish grin on her, "Who me? I would never."

"Here," she said, offering him a plate with a delicious looking roast beef sandwich on it. "Lily ordered you one. He's eating with Wendy and Romeo. Apparently he's been sucked into another round of that Domination game with them."

"Nice. He won't surface for hours then. What did you get?"

"Oh nothing much, just a turkey wrap – Mirajane makes this special sauce that she puts on them, it's so good."

"Do you want to go outside and eat?"

"Sure," she replied, smiling at him. "We could go to that place by the aqueduct."

"The bridge?"

"Yeah, and look, I ordered strawberry lemonade with two straws this time."

He smiled at her, "Why? I would have preferred one."

She smirked at him and led him back to the spot where they had first held each other. Outside, the air was hot and humid, and the cicadas were whining in the trees that grew on patches of grass within the city. The streets were not crowded at this time of day; most people were seeking refuge indoors from the noonday heat. They arrived at their spot and sat next to each other on the little bridge, baring their feet and dipping them in the cool water. They ate their sandwiches and talked to each other. They talked about the mission they had just come back from for a little while, but then their conversation strayed to less heavy content. They agreed there was nothing they could do for now about the matter. The identity of the fourth dragon slayer would be revealed, and then there was the matter of the two new members of Sabertooth claiming the title themselves. They would just have to train hard and prepare for the coming Tournament. They talked about everything and nothing, letting their conversation drift lazily between different subjects. Gajeel had never been one for long conversations, but something about Levy made him open up. She was so easy to talk to, just as Lily was.

"Some of the food in my fridge spoiled", she commented. "I need to take care of that when I get home before it starts to stink up the rooms."

"Hmm," he replied, considering his next words carefully. "So I've been thinking…and if you don't like what I'm saying just tell me, it's fine…"

She looked at him curiously.

"My apartment is a lot bigger than your dorm room. And I have two rooms, even though Lily sleeps with me. I don't really have anything in the other one right now. I had been thinking of making it a weight room, but there's stuff like that at the guild I could use. If you lived with me, it could be your library."

Her eyes had gone round as he rushed to continue, "And it could still be your bedroom – I'm not asking you take any steps you don't want to take and I would never ask you to do anything – "

He stopped short when she leaned over and kissed him fully on the mouth, snaking her arms around his neck and almost knocking him off balance. She held him there for a few breathless moments, as he pulled her close to him, smiling against her mouth.

"I want to live with you and Lily," she said, breaking free. "I know it seems like we're rushing things, having just started together and all but…this week changed a lot for us. I could hardly sleep last night without you next to me."

"Me either."

She smiled shyly, "We don't have to go too far too fast, especially with Lily there. But I want to be with you Gajeel – I can't imagine not having you with me now."

He pulled her into his lap so that she faced him. It may have been wildly inappropriate, but he really didn't care at the moment. There was no one around to see them anyway. Taking her face in his hands, he cupped the back of her neck with his fingers, drawing her gently toward him. He kissed her forehead, and her nose, and her cheeks and her eyelids, and finally her lips, drawing her into a steadily deeper kiss. Her scent filled his nose as nibbled on her lower lip, earning him a tiny moan that almost drove him mad. This woman had completely taken over his heart. She was everything to him, and he knew in that moment that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He had to fight the urge to ask her right then and there, but that was crazy, wasn't it?

He'd wait. He didn't know how long, but he would wait for the right moment. If they kept this up, he might have to ask her sooner than he planned. He loved her so much and wanted to honor her, but she was going to drive him crazy long before the normal amount of time had progressed before asking such a thing. They were so young, it seemed insane to imagine them being m- he couldn't even bring himself to think the word.

He broke the kiss and buried his face in her neck, nuzzling her skin and rubbing it with his teeth the way she liked so much. Her forehead rested on his shoulder as he continued his ministrations, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The heat and the closeness was making them both sweat and the air itself seemed laden with water, the humidity was so great.

"You know what would be nice right now?" Levy asked.

A dozen things popped into Gajeel's head, none of which he would share with her, "What?"

"A swim at the beach."

"Are you intent on recreating the day before we left?"

She smiled, "I hadn't thought of that, but maybe I am. What do you think?"

"I think we should take these plates back to Mirajane and grab some swimsuits."

She lifted herself off him reluctantly and pulled him to his feet, "Let's go then."

They went back to the guild and returned their dishes, telling Lily where they were headed. Wendy's eyes lit up when they mentioned the beach, commenting that it was the perfect day for it. Gajeel set aside his previous thoughts about some of their beach activities and decided to invite her to come with them. She accepted and then Romeo asked if he could come. When he was allowed, he promptly went to go ask Natsu if he wanted to go. That led to Natsu's team all rushing to grab their suits with Juvia on their heels, saying something about Gray in the swimsuit. Gajeel wondered what the big deal was since the boy was already in his underwear. Mirajane closed the bar so that she may attend and with Cana's supply of beer severed, she elected to go as well. Laxus, who had been reinstated to Fairy Tail following his actions on Tenrou Island, suddenly seemed interested in the venture. This of course led to Thunder God Tribe all declaring their intentions to follow. Elfman said that going to the beach was manly, and made for the doors immediately, dragging Lisanna after him who was trying to tell him that they needed to stop to get swimsuits first. Jet and Drory wanted to come as did Alzack and Bisca. Soon half the guild had elected to go to the beach for the day.

The whole afternoon had descended into chaos, but Gajeel surprisingly didn't mind. Levy seemed pleased that everyone wanted to go with them, and that satisfied him. They would have plenty of time to be alone together later, just because there was other people there didn't mean he couldn't still love on her, though not quite the same way he had been thinking of earlier. But when Levy came up to him and captured his hand in her little fingers, dragging him off to get ready for an afternoon of fun in the waves, he couldn't have imagined a better way to spend his day. And judging from the huge smile she was giving him, neither could she.

* * *

><p><strong>K.K.: Good Lord, it's done. I can't believe that this has taken me so long to finish. You know, this fic was supposed to be a lot shorter than this when I first started writing. I had no idea I was going to spend so much time and effort into it. And now that I've come to the end, I don't want it to be done. I barely knew how to finish it, it had grown so large. When I began writing it, the Tenrou Arc was not finished, so I wrote my own ideas. I tried to bring it back full circle, minus the 7 year time gap of course. I might write an epilogue, but I'm going to mark it as complete finally. I want to thank everyone for their time and reviews and support and suggestions. I can't believe how many people have followed this story and commented on in. I just found out that my story has inspired artwork on Deviant Art, which everyone should go see and favorite. It's by poki-grzyb deviantArt. Go look, it's amazing! Again, thank you all for your support, I probably would have never finished this if not for you all! Maybe the next thing anyone reads from me will be a real book! ^_^ Love to all, and keep the reviews coming!<strong>


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